Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (or Avienus) was a
Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of
Volsinii
Volsinii or Vulsinii (Etruscan language, Etruscan: Velzna or Velusna; Ancient Greek, 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 ...
in
Etruria
Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...
, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.
Avienius is not identical with the historian
Festus.
Background
Avienius made a free translation into Latin of
Aratus
Aratus (; ; c. 315/310 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' (, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; ), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cn ...
' 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 as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...
s, ''Periegesis,'' briefly delimiting the habitable world from the perspective of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
, written by
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes (, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 4th edition, 1810, 9''506/ref> was the ...
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 R ...
.
He wrote ''
Ora Maritima
("The Sea Coast") is a poem written by Avienius. It has been claimed to contain borrowings from the ''Massaliote Periplus'' (perhaps dating to the 6th century BC).Donnchadh Ó Corráin Chapter 1 "Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland", in ''Th ...
'', a poem claimed to contain borrowings from the 6th-century BC ''
Massiliote Periplus The Massaliote Periplus or Massiliote Periplus is a now-lost merchants' handbook, possibly dating from as early as the 6th century BC, describing the sea routes used by traders from Phoenicia and Tartessus in their journeys around Iron Age Europe.
...
''.
Donnchadh Ó Corráin
Donnchadh Ó Corráin (28 February 1942 – 25 October 2017) was an Republic of Ireland, Irish historian and professor emeritus of medieval history at University College Cork. He earned his BA in history and Irish from UCC, graduating in 1964.
...
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 (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), 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. The ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.
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
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...
.
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
Further reading
*Alan Cameron, "Macrobius, Avienus, and Avianus" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, 17.2 (November 1967), pp 385–399.
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 writers in Latin
4th-century Roman poets
4th-century translators
Late-Roman-era pagans
Postumii
Roman governors of Achaia
Roman governors of Africa
Rufii
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown