An ancient Greek guide to the heavens, translated in a new accessible
modern English edition. A poetic guide to the heavens,
the Phaenomena of Aratus—dating from around 270 BCE—was widely
known across the ancient world, second only in fame to the works of
Homer. Beginning with an invocation to Zeus, the poem describes the
constellations of the northern and southern skies, the celestial
sphere, and weather signs. Aratus’s vivid work offered a complete
handbook of astronomy, constellations, and weather, and this treatise
on the night sky was later translated or adapted by luminaries
including Cicero, Virgil, and Ovid. The Phaenomena remained popular
throughout the Renaissance and had more than sixty printed editions by
the early seventeenth century, but its fame has faded in the modern
world. With this edition, renowned translator and amateur
astronomer Stanley Lombardo renders Aratus’s poem in reader-friendly
vernacular English verse. Complete with endnotes, an accessible
introduction, and astronomically accurate illustrations, The Sky Is
Our Song brings this master poet’s celebration of the sky to a
twenty-first-century audience, inviting new readers to follow Aratus
on a visual journey through star signs, moon phases, weather
phenomena, and all wonders of the heavens.
Les mer
The "Phaenomena" of Aratus
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226836997
Publisert
2025
Utgiver
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter