Julius Obsequens was aRoman writer active in the 4th or early 5th centuries AD, duringlate antiquity. His sole known work is theProdigiorum liber (Book of Prodigies), a tabulation of the wonders and portents (prodigia) that had occurred in theRoman Republic and earlyPrincipate in the years 249–12 BC.[1] The material for theProdigiorum liber was largely excerpted from the 1st century ADAb Urbe Condita Libri of theAugustan historianLivy, which chronicled the history of the Roman state from its origin to the beginning of the imperial period, though Julius used it selectively and sometimes added interpretations of the omens and incidents he included.[1] There is a common view that Julius only knew Livy's text wholly or in part from anepitome, but there is scant evidence of this.[1]
The work was firstprinted by theItalian humanistAldus Manutius in 1508, after amanuscript belonging toJodocus of Verona (now lost). Of great importance was theedition by theBasle humanistConrad Lycosthenes (1552), trying to reconstruct lost parts and illustrating the text withwood-cuts. Later editions were printed byJohannes Schefferus (Amsterdam, 1679), Franciscus Oudendorp (Leiden, 1720) andOtto Jahn (1853, with theperiochae of Livy).
The text of Julius Obsequens frequently makes reference to unusual astronomical and meteorological events as portentous signs likemeteor showers,comets, andsun dogs, alongsideearthquakes, aberrant births,haruspicy, and sweating, crying, or bleeding statues.
After the allegedKenneth Arnold UFO sighting in 1947,Harold T. Wilkins among others, interpreted Julius Obsequens as preserving ancient reports ofunidentified flying objects (UFOs).[2] Since Julius wrote some four centuries after the latest of the events he describes, his is not an eye-witness account, and for most of his subject matter his source Livy was himself neither an eye-witness nor even a contemporary. Obsequens was interested in signs and omens, not accurate weather reporting.
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