De astronomia (Latin:[deːäs̠t̪rɔˈnɔmiä];Concerning Astronomy)[nb 1] is a book of stories written inLatin, probably during the reign ofAugustus (c. 27 BC – AD 14). Attributed to "Hyginus", the book's true author has been long debated. However, the art historianKristen Lippincott argues that the author was likelyGaius Julius Hyginus, who served as the superintendent of thePalatine library underCaesar Augustus.[3]
The text describes 47 of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations, centering primarily on theGreek andRoman mythology surrounding the constellations, though there is some discussion of the relative positions of stars. The stories it contains are chiefly based onCatasterismi, a work that was traditionally attributed toEratosthenes.
TheAstronomia is a collection of abridgements. According to theEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, the style and level of Latin competence and the elementary mistakes (especially in the rendering of the Greek originals) were held to prove that they cannot have been the work of "so distinguished" a scholar as C. Julius Hyginus. It was further suggested that these treatises are an abridgment made in the latter half of the 2nd century of theGenealogiae of Hyginus by an unknown adapter, who added a complete treatise on mythology.[4] The star lists in theAstronomia are in exactly the same order as inPtolemy'sAlmagest, reinforcing the idea of a 2nd-century compilation.[5]
Theeditio princeps ofDe astronomia waspublished in 1475 by Augustinus Carnerius.[6] Less than a decade later, in 1482,Erhard Ratdolt published an edition ofDe astronomia, which carried the full titleClarissimi Viri Hyginii Poeticon Astronomicon Opus Utilissimum. For this print, Ratdolt commissioned a series of woodcuts depicting the constellations to accompany Hyginus's text.[7] As with many other star atlases that would follow it, the positions of various stars are indicated overlaid on the image of each constellation. However, the relative positions of the stars in the woodcuts bear little resemblance to the descriptions given by Hyginus in the text or the actual positions of the stars in the sky.[8]
As a result of the inaccuracy of the depicted star positions and the fact that the constellations are not shown with any context, theDe astronomia is not particularly useful as a guide to the night sky. However, the illustrations commissioned by Ratdolt served as a template for future sky atlas renderings of the constellation figures. The text, by contrast, is an important source, and occasionally the only source, for some of the more obscure Greek myths.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hyginus, Gaius Julius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 175.