Aratus and the Astronomical Tradition

Abstract

takes up an ambitious task: an explanation of the lasting importance of the Phaenomena of Aratus, who transferred into Homeric verse a fourth century astronomical prose treatise of the same name by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the 270's bc. Fusing traditions of technical astronomy and meteorology with the didactic poetry of the Archaic poet Hesiod, the Phaenomena was an immediate classic and remained widely read and imitated for centuries to come. Although the poem has begun to receive more attention from scholars in the past 50 years, 1 a general study of its reception has yet to emerge. Gee seeks to fill this void by inserting the Phaenomena into a larger tradition of astronomical thought spanning the seven centuries between Plato and the Roman emperor Julian. Although Aratus' importance as a poet generally goes unchallenged, Gee's is the broadest treatment of the Phaenomena and its translations by Cicero, Germanicus Caesar, and Avienus as an astronomical tradition referenced at length by several important Latin poets. In the end, the success of the arguments relies on an intricate array of detailed, close readings of text, which compel to varying degrees. Even where these arguments fail to be completely convincing, versions of Gee's theses nonetheless remain plausible. Aratus and the Astronomical Tradition constitutes a large step in the general study of Aratus' ancient reception. In what follows, I will summarize and describe the arguments of each chapter, commenting on Gee's argumentative strategy along the way.Gee divides the Introduction into six sections: