Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius[1][2][3] (sometimes erroneously Avienus) was a Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of Volsinii in Etruria,[4] from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.[5]

Avienius is not identical with the historian Festus.[6]

Background

Avienius made a free translation into Latin of Aratus' didactic poem Phaenomena. He also took a popular Greek poem in hexameters, 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.[7][8] Avienius also served as governor of Achaia and Africa.[9]

According to legend, when asked what he did in the country, he answered Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lavo, caeno,[check spelling] quiesco:

I dine, drink, sing, play, bathe, sup, rest.[10]

However this quote is a misattribution and likely comes from the works of Martial.[11]

Editions

Commentaries, monographs and articles

References

  1. ^ Cameron, Alan (1995). "Avienus or Avienius?" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik: 252–262. JSTOR 20189613.
  2. ^ Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire vol. 1 p. 336
  3. ^ Rita Lizzi Testa, Senatori, popolo, papi: il governo di Roma al tempo dei Valentiniani (Bari, 2004), p. 274
  4. ^ Dolan, Marion (22 August 2017). Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts. Springer. p. 34. ISBN 9783319567846.
  5. ^ Matthews, John (September 1967). "Continuity in a Roman Family; The Rufii Festi of Volsinii". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. Franz Steiner Verlag: 484–509. JSTOR 4435006.
  6. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, "Avienius", p. 187
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ "Avienus, Rufus Festus" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology, Timothy Darvil, ed.. (Oxford University Press) 2002
  9. ^ PLRE I, p. 336
  10. ^ As recorded in a poem once erroneously attributed to him; English translation by Richard Lovelace.
  11. ^ Baehrens, Emil (1879). Poetae latini minores. PIMS - University of Toronto. Lipsiae : In aedibus B.G. Teubneri.

Further reading

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Avienus, Rufius Festus".
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