View source for Avienius

{{short description|Roman poet}}
{{dmy|date=July 2021}}
{{distinguish|Avienus (disambiguation){{!}}Avienus|Avianus}}
'''Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius'''<ref>{{cite journal |title=Avienus or Avienius? |first=Alan |last=Cameron |author-link=Alan Cameron (classical scholar) |journal=[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]] |year=1995 |volume=108 |pages=252–262 |jstor=20189613 |url=http://uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1995/108pdf/108252.pdf}}</ref><ref>''[[Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire]]'' vol. 1 p. 336</ref><ref>Rita Lizzi Testa, ''Senatori, popolo, papi: il governo di Roma al tempo dei Valentiniani'' (Bari, 2004), p. 274</ref> (or '''Avienus'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shipley |first1=D. |last2=Graham |first2=J. |year=2024 |chapter=Avienus (Avienius), Ora Maritima (The Sea Coast) |title=Geographers of the Ancient Greek World: Selected Texts in Translation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=889–920}}</ref>) was a [[Latin literature|Latin writer]] of the 4th century AD. He was a native of [[Volsinii]] in [[Etruria]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqYyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |title=Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts |first=Marion |last=Dolan |publisher=[[Springer (publisher)|Springer]] |date=22 August 2017 |page=34 |isbn=9783319567846}}</ref> from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Continuity in a Roman Family; The Rufii Festi of Volsinii |first=John |last=Matthews |journal=[[Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte]] |date=September 1967 |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=484–509 |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]] |jstor=4435006}}</ref>

Avienius is not identical with the historian [[Festus (historian)|Festus]].<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'', "Avienius", p. 187</ref>
== Background==
Avienius made a free translation into Latin of [[Aratus]]' didactic poem ''Phaenomena''. He also took a popular Greek poem in [[hexameter]]s, ''Periegesis,'' briefly delimiting the habitable world from the perspective of [[Alexandria]], written by [[Dionysius Periegetes]] 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]].

He wrote ''[[Ora Maritima]]'', a poem claimed to contain borrowings from the 6th-century BC ''[[Massiliote Periplus]]''.<ref name=Foster>[[Donnchadh Ó Corráin]] Chapter 1 "Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland", in ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland'', R.L. Foster, ed. (Oxford University Press) 2000 {{ISBN|0-19-289323-8}}</ref><ref name = AvienusOD>"Avienus, Rufus Festus"  ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology'', Timothy Darvil, ed.. (Oxford University Press) 2002</ref> Avienius also served as governor of [[Achaia (Roman province)|Achaia]] and [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]].<ref>''PLRE'' I, p. 336</ref>

According to legend, when asked what he did in the country, he answered ''Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lavo, caeno,{{typo help inline|date=October 2023|reason=In Classical Latin this would be "cēnō", not "caenō"; was this misspelling introduced by the original author (since, I think, /ae/ merged with /e:/ in the early or middle Roman Empire), by the manuscript tradition, by the source this article directly took it from, or by the editor who inserted it here?}} quiesco'':

{{cquote|I dine, drink, sing, play, bathe, sup, rest.<ref>As recorded in a poem once erroneously attributed to him; English translation by [[Richard Lovelace (poet)|Richard Lovelace]].</ref>}}However this quote is a misattribution and likely comes from the works of [[Martial]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baehrens |first=Emil |url=http://archive.org/details/poetaelatinimino34baeh |title=Poetae latini minores |date=1879 |publisher=Lipsiae : In aedibus B.G. Teubneri |others=PIMS - University of Toronto}}</ref>

==Editions==
* A. Berthelot: ''{{lang|la|Ora maritima}}''. Paris 1934. (text of reference)
<!--are German translations of 1896 useful to the reader
* G. Fischer, F. Köppner: ''{{lang|de|Der gestirnte Himmel. Versuch einer Übersetzung der Phaenomena Aratea des Rufus Festus Avienus}}''. In: Programm des Communal-Obergymnasiums in Komotau, Komotau 1893. (German translation, part I)
* G. Fischer: ''{{lang|de|Der gestirnte Himmel. Versuch einer Übersetzung der Phaenomena Aratea des Rufus Festus Avienus}}''. In: Programm des Communal-Obergymnasiums in Komotau, Komotau 1896. (German translation, part II)
* A. Holder: ''{{lang|la|Rufi Festi Avieni Carmina}}''. Innsbruck 1887. (completely obsolete edition)?-->
* J. P. Murphy: ''{{lang|la|Ora maritima}} or Description of the seacoast''. (Chicago) 1977.
* J. Soubiran: ''{{lang|fr|Aviénus: Les Phénomènes d'Aratos}}''. CUF, Paris 1981. (text of reference)
* D. Stichtenoth: ''{{lang|de|Ora maritima, lateinisch und deutsch}}''. Darmstadt 1968. (the Latin text is that of the ''editio princeps'' of 1488 and is better not cited)
* P. van de Woestijne: ''{{lang|la|Descriptio orbis terrae}}''. Brugge 1961. (text of reference)

;Commentaries, monographs and articles
* F. Bellandi, E. Berti und M. Ciappi: ''{{lang|it|"Iustissima Virgo": Il mito della Vergine in Germanico e in Avieno (saggio di commento a Germanico Arati Phaen}}''. 96 - 139 e Avieno Arati Phaen. 273 - 352), Pisa 2001
* {{cite journal|author=A. Cameron|authorlink=Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|year=1995|title=Avienus or Avienius?|journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|volume=108|pages=252–262|url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1995/108pdf/108252.pdf|accessdate=2006-12-13}}
* ''{{lang|la|Concordantia in Rufium Festum Avienum}}''. Curavit Manfred WACHT. G. Olms Verlag 1995
* M. Fiedler: ''{{lang|de|Kommentar zu V. 367-746 von Aviens Neugestaltung der Phainomena Arats}}''. Stuttgart Saur 2004
* C. Ihlemann: ''{{lang|la|De Avieni in vertendis Arateis arte et ratione}}''. Diss. Göttingen 1909
* H. Kühne: ''{{lang|la|De arte grammatica Rufi Festi Avieni}}''. Essen 1905
* K. Smolak: ''{{lang|la|Postumius Rufius Festus Avienus}}''. In: {{lang|de|Handbuch der lateinischen Literatur der Antike, hrsg. von R. Herzog und P. L. Schmidt, Fünfter Band. Restauration und Erneuerung. Die lateinische Literatur von 284 bis 374 n. Chr., München 1989, S. 320-327}}
* D. Weber: ''{{lang|de|Aviens Phaenomena, eine Arat-Bearbeitung aus der lateinischen Spätanike. Untersuchungen zu ausgewählten Partien}}''. Dissertationen der Universität Wien 173, Wien 1986
* L. Willms ''{{lang|de|Übersetzung, philologischer Kommentar und vergleichende Interpretation des Tierkreises in Aviens Phaenomena (Verse 1014 – 1325)}}'' AKAN-Einzelschriften – Antike Naturwissenschaften und ihre Rezeption, vol. 8. Trier WVT 2014 
* P. van de Woestijne: ''{{lang|de|De vroegste uitgaven van Avienus' Descriptio orbis terrae (1488-1515)}}''. 1959
* H. Zehnacker: ''{{lang|fr|D'Aratos à Aviénus: Astronomie et idéologie}}''. Illinois Classical Studies 44 (1989), S. 317-329

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Alan Cameron, "Macrobius, Avienus, and Avianus" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, '''17'''.2 (November 1967), pp 385–399.

==External links==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Avienus, Rufius Festus}}
*[http://www.orteliusmaps.com/index.html Ortelius' bibliography]: notes of cartographers
*[http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/avienus.html ''Ora maritima'' and ''Periegesis''] in Latin, at [[The Latin Library]]
*[http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/avienus/univers.htm Introduction and e-text of the "Description"] (in French)
*[https://topostext.org/work/751 English translation of ''Ora maritima''] by Ralph Morley (2018) in ToposText.org.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avienius, Postumius Rufius Festus}}
[[Category:4th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:4th-century Roman poets]]
[[Category:4th-century translators]]
[[Category:Late-Roman-era pagans]]
[[Category:Postumii]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Achaia]]
[[Category:Roman governors of Africa]]
[[Category:Rufii]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]