Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (sometimes erroneously Avienus) was a Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of

Volsinii Volsinii or Vulsinii ( Etruscan: Velzna or Velusna; Greek: Ouolsinioi, ; ), is the name of two ancient cities of Etruria, one situated on the shore of Lacus Volsiniensis (modern Lago di Bolsena), and the other on the Via Clodia, between Clusium ...

in Etruria, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi. Avienius is not identical with the historian Festus.

Background

Avienius made somewhat inexact translations into Latin of

Aratus Aratus (; grc-gre, Ἄρατος ὁ Σολεύς; c. 315 BC/310 BC240) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' ( grc-gre, Φαινόμενα, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; la, Phaenomena), the ...

' didactic poem ''Phaenomena''. He also took a popular Greek poem in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s, ''Periegesis,'' briefly delimiting the habitable world from the perspective of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, written by

Dionysius Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...

in a terse and elegant style that was easy to memorize for students, and translated it into an archaising Latin as his ''Descriptio orbis terrae'' ("Description of the World's Lands"). Only Book I survives, with an unsteady grasp of actual geography and some far-fetched etymologies: see

Ophiussa Ophiussa, also spelled Ophiusa, is the ancient name given by the ancient Greeks to what is now Portuguese territory near the mouth of the river Tagus. It means Land of Serpents. The expulsion of the ''Oestrimni'' The 4th century Roman poet Ru ...

. He wrote '' Ora Maritima'', a poem claimed to contain borrowings from the 6th-century BC '' Massiliote Periplus''.

Donnchadh Ó Corráin Donnchadh Ó Corráin (28 February 1942 – 25 October 2017) was an Irish historian and Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at University College Cork. He earned his BA in history and Irish from that institution, graduating in 1964. He was ...

Chapter 1 "Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland", in ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland'', R.L. Foster, ed. (Oxford University Press) 2000 "Avienus, Rufus Festus" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology'', Timothy Darvil, ed.. (Oxford University Press) 2002 Avienius also served as governor of

Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. According to legend, when asked what he did in the country, he answered ''Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lavo, caeno, quiesco'': However this quote is a misattribution and likely comes from the works of Martial.

Editions

* A. Berthelot: '. Paris 1934. (text of reference) * J. P. Murphy: '' or Description of the seacoast''. (Chicago) 1977. * J. Soubiran: '. CUF, Paris 1981. (text of reference) * D. Stichtenoth: '. Darmstadt 1968. (the Latin text is that of the ''editio princeps'' of 1488 and is better not cited) * P. van de Woestijne: '. Brugge 1961. (text of reference) ;Commentaries, monographs and articles * F. Bellandi, E. Berti und M. Ciappi: '. 96 - 139 e Avieno Arati Phaen. 273 - 352), Pisa 2001 * * '. Curavit Manfred WACHT. G. Olms Verlag 1995 * M. Fiedler: '. Stuttgart Saur 2004 * C. Ihlemann: '. Diss. Göttingen 1909 * H. Kühne: '. Essen 1905 * K. Smolak: '. In: * D. Weber: '. Dissertationen der Universität Wien 173, Wien 1986 * L. Willms ' AKAN-Einzelschriften – Antike Naturwissenschaften und ihre Rezeption, vol. 8. Trier WVT 2014 * P. van de Woestijne: '. 1959 * H. Zehnacker: '. Illinois Classical Studies 44 (1989), S. 317-329

References

External links

Ortelius' bibliography
notes of cartographers

in Latin, at

The Latin Library The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for rese ...

Introduction and e-text of the "Description"
(in French)
English translation of ''Ora maritima''
by Ralph Morley (2018) in ToposText.org. {{DEFAULTSORT:Avienius, Postumius Rufius Festus 4th-century Latin writers 4th-century Roman poets 4th-century translators Late-Roman-era pagans Postumii Roman governors of Achaia Roman governors of Africa Rufii Year of birth missing Year of death missing

Background

Editions

References

Further reading

External links