The author ofAstronomica is neitherquoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his name is uncertain, but it was probably Marcus Manilius; in the earlier books the author is anonymous, the later give Manilius, Manlius, Mallius. The poem itself implies that the writer lived underAugustus orTiberius, and that he was a citizen of and resident in Rome, suggesting that Manilius wrote the work during the 20s CE. According to the early 18th-century classicistRichard Bentley, he was anAsiatic Greek; according to the 19th-century classicist Fridericus Jacob, anAfrican.[citation needed] It has been suggested that he might hailed fromRoman Syria, or be aRoman senator.[2] His work is one of great learning; he had studied his subject in the best writers, and generally represents the most advanced views of the ancients onastronomy (or ratherastrology).[3]
Manilius frequently imitatesLucretius. Although hisdiction presents some peculiarities, the style is metrically correct, and he could write neat and wittyhexameters.[3]
The astrological systems ofhouses, linkinghuman affairs with the circuit of thezodiac, have evolved over thecenturies, but they make their first appearance inAstronomica. The earliest datable surviving horoscope that uses houses in its interpretation is slightly earlier,c. 20 BCE.Claudius Ptolemy (100–170 CE) almost completely ignored houses (templa as Manilius calls them) in his astrological text,Tetrabiblos.[3]
J. R. Bram (ed.),Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice. Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus (Park Ridge, 1975).
Manilio Il poema degli astri (Astronomica), testo critico a cura di E. Flores, traduzione di Ricardo Scarcia, commento a cura di S. Feraboli e R. Scarcia, 2 vols. (Milano, 1996–2001).
Wolfgang Hübner (ed.), Manilius,Astronomica, Buch V (2 Bde) (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2010) (Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Commentare).
Cunningham, Clifford. 2020. "'Dark Stars' and a New Interpretation of the Ancient Greek Stellar Magnitude System."Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage 23(2): 231–256.
Fratantuono, Lee Michael. 2012. "Andromeda, Perseus, and the End of the Astronomica."Maia: rivista di letterature classiche 64.2: 305–315.
Glauthier, Patrick. 2017. "Repurposing the Stars: Manilius, Astronomica 1, and the Aratean Tradition."American Journal of Philology 138.2: 267–303.
Goold, G. P. 1961. "A Greek Professorial Circle at Rome."Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 92: 168–192.
Green, Steven J. 2014.Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Green, Steven J., and Katharina Volk, eds. 2011.Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius’ Astronomica. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Habinek, Thomas N. 2007. "Probing the Entrails of the Universe: Astrology as Bodily Knowledge in Manilius’ Astronomica." InOrdering Knowledge in the Roman Empire. Edited by Jason König and Tim Whitmarsh, 229–240. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Komorowska, Joanna. 2016. "Ad Duo Templa Precor: Poetry, Astronomy, and the Authorial Persona in Manilius' Astronomica, I."Eirene 52: 341–358.
Lapidge, Michael. 1989. "Stoic Cosmology and Roman Literature, First to Third Centuries A.D."Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Edited by Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase, 1379–1429. Berlin: de Gruyter.
MacGregor, Alexander. 2004. "Which Art in Heaven: The Sphere of Manilius."Illinois Classical Studies 29: 143–157.
Neuburg, Matt. 1993. "Hitch Your Wagon to a Star: Manilius and His Two Addressees." InMega nepios: Il destinatario nell'epos didascalico/The Addressee in Didactic Epic. Edited by Alessandro Schiesaro, Philip Mitsis, and Jenny Strauss Clay, 243–282.Materiali e Discussioni per l'Analisi dei Testi Classici 31. Pisa: Giardini.
Volk, Katharina. 2009.Manilius and His Intellectual Background. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Volk, Katharina. 2002.The Poetics of Latin Didactic: Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Manilius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 580–581.