Adrastus of Cyzicus () is an individual who is mentioned along with Dion of Naples () in a work of

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

. He was apparently an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. Although, from Augustine's brief and second-hand account, we can know very little of his life or works, he was cited as an authoritative astronomical observer from antiquity. According to Augustine's '' De Civitate Dei contra Paganos'',

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

(116 BC – 27 BC) the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

scholar and writer, cited Adrastus and Dion as authorities for the dating of an astronomical phenomenon involving

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, describing them as ''mathematici nobiles'' (distinguished astronomers, or possibly astrologers). Again according to Augustine, Varro recorded this in his work ''De gente populi Romani''.Augustine. ''

De Civitate Dei ''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' (), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. Augustine wrote the book to refute allegations that Christian ...

''. Book XXI, Chapter 8 Although Varro's writing is now lost, Augustine quoted from it: Augustine used these ancient astronomical reports to further his what has been called his " epistemic theory of miracles". Here, Augustine argued that if Varro called the phenomenon that Adrastus and Dion reported, a " portent", then it could not be contrary to nature, but must simply be inexplicable under our current understanding of nature. In antiquity,

Cyzicus Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...

was an important commercial town in

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adrastus of Cyzicus Ancient Roman astronomers