__NOTOC__ Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Roman

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

writer and

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

, who received a pagan classical education that made him conversant with

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; he lived in the reign of

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

(306 to 337 AD) and his successors. His triple career made him a public advocate, an astrologer and finally a

Christian apologist Christian apologetics (, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity. Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in the early church and Pa ...

. The ''

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'', or end-tag, of the sole surviving

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of his ''De errore profanarum religionum'' ("On the error of profane religions") gives his name as ''Iulius Firmicus Maternus V C'', identifying him as a '' vir clarissimus'' and a member of the senatorial class. He was also author of the most extensive surviving text of Roman astrology, ''Matheseos libri octo'' ("Eight books of astrology") written around 334–337. Manuscripts of this work identify him as "the younger" (''iunior'') or "the Sicilian" (''Siculus''). The lunar crater Firmicus was named in his honour. The ''Matheseos'' was dedicated to the governor of Campania, Lollianus Mavortius, whose knowledge of the subject inspired Firmicus, and whose encouragement supported him during the composition of this handbook. It is among the last extensive handbooks of a "scientific" astrology that circulated in the West before the appearance of Arabic texts in the 12th century.

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 ...

, drawn to astrology in his youth in the mid-fourth century, fulminated against the study's impieties, in part based on the astrologers' view that the planets were divinities, but also on rational grounds, taking, for instance, the divergent careers of twins. The

Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

astrological work was first printed by

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; ; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and Renaissance humanism, humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

in 1499, and has often been reprinted. About the year 346 he composed ''De errore profanarum religionum'', which he dedicated to

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

and Constans, the sons of Constantine, and which is still extant. He holds up to scorn the religious beliefs and practices of pagans and implores the Emperor to stamp out the old religions as a sacred duty which will be rewarded by

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. In the first part (chs. 1‑17) he attacks the false objects of worship among the Oriental cults; in the second (chs. 18‑29) he discusses a number of formulae and rites connected with the mysteries, with particular attention and animus toward alleged homosexual practices, recovering in a certain way the contempt that the senators had at the time of the Republic to the Hellenization of the Roman religion and culture. For 19th-century readers, ''De errore profanarum religionum'' provided such a sharp contrast with Firmicus' book on astrology (commonly referred to as the ''Matheseos'') that the two works were generally attributed to different writers. However, Clifford Herschel Moore soundly identified the single authorship of the two works, by idiosyncratic choices of vocabulary and syntax, in a dissertation overseen by Eduard Wölfflin (1897).

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...

has shown that the ''Matheseos'' was composed in the year 336 and not in 354 as was formerly held, thus making it an earlier work than ''De errore profanarum religionum''; modern readers who find astrology incompatible with

Early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

argue that it would have been written prior to Firmicus' conversion to Christianity. The Christian work is preserved in a single manuscript from the Bibliotheca Palatina. It was first printed at Strasbourg in 1562, and has been reprinted several times, both separately and combined with the polemical writings of Minucius Felix,

Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...

or Arnobius.Editions by Conrad Bursian (1856), and by Karl Felix Halm, in his ''Minucius Felix'' ('' Corpus Scrip. Eccles. Lat.'' ii, 1867)

Bibliography

Editions

*''Matheseos libri VIII'', 2 vols, edited by W. Kroll and F. Skutsch, Stuttgart, Teubner, 1968.

Translations

*''De errore profanarum religionum'', translated by as ''The Error of the Pagan Religions'', Newman Press, 1970 ( Ancient Christian Writers, 37).
''Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice. Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus''
, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Park Ridge, Noyes Press, 1975. *''Mathesis'', edited and translated by James Herschel Holden, Tempe, Az., A.F.A., Inc., 2011.

References

External links

David McCann's ''Profile of a Roman Astrologer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Firmicus Maternus Year of birth missing 4th-century deaths People from Syracuse, Sicily Christian apologists Christian writers Ancient Roman astrologers 4th-century Christians 4th-century Romans 4th-century writers in Latin Maternus, Julius Firmicus

Bibliography

Editions

Translations

References

Further reading

External links