Avienus

Postumius Rufius Festus Avienus was a Latin poet of the second half of the 4th century from Volsinii (now Bolsena ).

Life

The exact life data are unknown, his creative time is around the middle of the century ( floruit 360 AD). Thus he was thus a contemporary of the Emperor Julian. Maybe Avien held high political office. The exact name of the author is controversial ( Avienus? Avienius? ). Sometimes he was mistaken or taken together with the fable - writer Avianus.

Works

From Avienus the works Phaenomena are obtained ( after the astronomy of Aratus of Soli ), Descriptio orbis terrae (after Dionysius Periegetes ) and Ora maritima. In addition, a fragment of about Comets while Virgil commentator Servius is handed down. The texts are attested only extremely sparse: in addition to the first edition ( editio princeps) of 1488, there are only two witnesses to the text containing larger lots or total, and a few manuscripts from the Phenomena of Germanicus. The pagan author Avien mediated primarily in his Phaenomena a syncretic worldview (see syncretism ), the strong henotheistisch (see henotheism ) is marked: A single divinity pervades the cosmos in many guises. Influenced by the Gnosis of representation works out especially Weber ( see below).

Text editions and translations

  • A. Berthelot: Ora maritima. Paris 1934 ( reference text )
  • G. Fischer, F. Köppner: The starry heavens. Attempt a translation of the Phenomena Aratea of Rufus Festus Avienus. In: Program of the Communal upper secondary school in Chomutov, Chomutov 1893.
  • G. Fischer: The starry heavens. Attempt a translation of the Phenomena Aratea of Rufus Festus Avienus. In: Program of the Communal upper secondary school in Chomutov, Chomutov 1896.
  • A. Holder: Rufi Festi Avieni Carmina. Innsbruck 1887 ( in many ways outdated Edition of the Works )
  • JP Murphy: Ora maritima or Description of the seacoast. Chicago 1977.
  • J. Soubiran: Aviénus: Les Phénomènes d' Aratus. CUF, Paris 1981 ( reference text )
  • D. Stichtenoth: Ora maritima, Latin and German. Darmstadt 1968 ( the Latin text reflects those of the first edition and is therefore unusable )
Latin literature Paganism Gnosticism Bulla Regia Integrated Authority File
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