Per liquidum aethera: A Horatian Constellation?
By Nathaniel Solley, University of Pennsylvania
In this paper I argue that Horace’s famous transformation into a swan in Odes 2.20 can be identified with the constellation of the Bird (i.e. Cygnus) described in Aratus’ Phaenomena. The Bird (275-281) is contiguous with the Lyre (268-274), a constellation that symbolizes Horace’s genre in the Odes.
Martial’s Fasti: Calendrical Reversals in Epigrams Book 10
By Jovan Cvjeticanin, University of Virginia
At the end of his article on Martial and Ovid, Stephen Hinds suggests the possibility of studying “Martial’s Fasti,” namely his calendrical references through the lens of Ovidian intertextuality. The majority of scholarship on this theme has focused on the Saturnalia and poetics (Grewing, Citroni), with some work done on the intersection of social and religious ritual (Buongiovanni, Argetsinger). Katharina Burkhard has argued that Martial, unlike his Latin predecessors, has a tendency to erase religious elements from depictions of birthday celebrations.
Sirius Rising: Religious Metaphysics’ role in Roman astrology
By Tejas Aralere, University of California, Santa Barbara
This talk proposes Roman Religious Metaphysics as a semantic framework that allowed astrology to establish itself in Rome during the 2nd century BCE, and positioned it to flourish in Augustan Rome. Scholars of ancient religion like Dumezil (1996), Burkert (1985), Bremmer (1994), Beard (1998), and Feeney (1999) have explored the origins and development of Roman religion primarily through a focus on ritual practices as described by Ovid, Varro, and Cicero.
Finding Algorithms in Babylonian Astronomy: A Venus Procedure Text and Cross-Cultural Case Study
By E.L. Meszaros, Brown University
Algorithms have been used as a tool for translating the mathematical astronomy of ancient cultures (Ritter 2016, Imhausen 2002) and a general label for calculation methods like the Babylonian Systems A and B (Ossendrijver 2012). The continued use of the term “algorithm” to understand and translate these ancient ideas highlights the value of taking a closer look at what modern scholars mean when using the word.
Aratus’ Mirror
By Belisarius Welgan, Cornell University
This paper will demonstrate that what has been presumed in Aratus of Soli’s Phaenomena to be an error by the poet in his description of the Kneeler constellation is in fact an intentional play on the names of the constellation and an allusion to Eudoxus and Plato. The supposed error occurs at v. 70, where Aratus follows Eudoxus (fr. 17) in saying that it is the right foot of the constellation which lies above the head of Draco and not the left, which contradicts the orientation convention chosen by both texts. Manuscripts unanimously convey δεξιτεροῦ ποδός.