Avienus
Encyclopedia
Avienus was a Latin writer
of the 4th century AD. According to an inscription
from Bulla Regia
, his full name was Postumius Rufius Festus (qui et) Avienius.
He was a native of Volsinii
in Etruria
, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi. He was twice appointed consul
, if an inscription published by the 17th-century antiquaries
Jacob Spon and Raffaello Fabretti really refers to this Avienus.
Famously asked what he did in the country, he answered Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lavo, caeno, quiesco:
Avienus made somewhat inexact translations 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 descriptio orbis terrae . Only Book I survives, with an unsteady grasp of actual geography and some far-fetched etymologies: see Ophiussa
.
resulted in a confused amateur's account of the coastal regions of the known world. His editor A. Berthelot demonstrated that Avienus' land-measurements were derived from Roman itineraries
but inverted some sequences. Berthelot remarked of some names on the Hispanic coast "The omission of Emporium
, contrasting strangely with the names of Tarragon
and Barcelona
, may characterize the method of Avienus, who searches archaic documents and mingles his searches of them with his impressions as an official of the fourth century A.D." (Barthelmy, Introduction). Ora maritima was a work for the reader rather than the traveller, where the fourth century present intrudes largely in the mention of cities at the time abandoned (see Oestriminis
). More recent scholars have emended the too credulous reliance on Avienus' accuracy of his editor, the historian-archaeologist Adolf Schulten
. Another ancient chief text cited by Avienus is the Periplus of Himilco
, the description of a Punic expedition through the coasts of western Europe which took place at the same time of the circummnavigation of Africa by Hanno (c. 500 BC).
Ora Maritima includes reference to the islands of Ierne
and Albion
, Ireland
and Britain
, whose inhabitants reputedly traded with the Oestrymnides of Brittany
. The work was dedicated to Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus
.
The whole text derives from a single manuscript source, used for the editio princeps published at Venice
in 1488.
of Roman history in the genre called breviarium:
The scholar Theodore Mommsen identified that author with Rufius Festus, proconsul of Achaea
in 366, and both with Rufus Festus Avienus. Others take him to be Festus of Tridentum, magister memoriae (secretary) to Valens
and notoriously severe proconsul
of the province of Asia, where he was sent to punish those implicated in the conspiracy of Theodorus. The work itself (Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani) is divided into two parts, one geographical, the other historical.
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
of the 4th century AD. According to an inscription
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
from Bulla Regia
Bulla Regia
Bulla Regia is an archaeological site in northwestern Tunisia, a former Roman city near modern Jendouba. It is noted for its Hadrianic-era semi-subterranean housing, a protection from the fierce heat and effects of the sun. Many of the mosaic floors have been left in situ; others may be seen at the...
, his full name was Postumius Rufius Festus (qui et) Avienius.
He was a native of Volsinii
Volsinii
Volsinii or Vulsinii , is the name of two ancient cities of Etruria, one situated on the shore of Lacus Volsiniensis , and the other on the Via Clodia, between Clusium and Forum Cassii...
in Etruria
Etruria
Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...
, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi. He was twice appointed consul
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
, if an inscription published by the 17th-century antiquaries
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
Jacob Spon and Raffaello Fabretti really refers to this Avienus.
Famously asked what he did in the country, he answered Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lavo, caeno, quiesco:
Avienus made somewhat inexact translations into Latin of Aratus
Aratus
Aratus was a Greek didactic poet. He is best known today for being quoted in the New Testament. His major extant work is his hexameter poem Phaenomena , the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cnidus. It describes the constellations and other...
' didactic poem Phaenomena. He also took a popular Greek poem in hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
s, Periegesis, briefly delimiting the habitable world from the perspective of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, written by Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes was the author of a description of the habitable world in Greek hexameter verse written in a terse and elegant style...
in a terse and elegant style that was easy to memorize for students, and translated it into an archaising Latin, as descriptio orbis terrae . Only Book I survives, with an unsteady grasp of actual geography and some far-fetched etymologies: see Ophiussa
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...
.
Ora maritima
Avienus wrote Ora Maritima ("Sea coasts"), a poem containing borrowings from the early 6th century BC Massiliote Periplus. This poeticised periplusPeriplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
resulted in a confused amateur's account of the coastal regions of the known world. His editor A. Berthelot demonstrated that Avienus' land-measurements were derived from Roman itineraries
Itinerarium
An itinerarium was an Ancient Roman road map in the form of a listing of cities, villages and other stops, with the intervening distances. One surviving example is the Peutinger Table; another is the Antonine Itinerary....
but inverted some sequences. Berthelot remarked of some names on the Hispanic coast "The omission of Emporium
Empúries
Empúries , formerly known by its Spanish name Ampurias , was a town on the Mediterranean coast of the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea with the name of Ἐμπόριον...
, contrasting strangely with the names of Tarragon
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, may characterize the method of Avienus, who searches archaic documents and mingles his searches of them with his impressions as an official of the fourth century A.D." (Barthelmy, Introduction). Ora maritima was a work for the reader rather than the traveller, where the fourth century present intrudes largely in the mention of cities at the time abandoned (see Oestriminis
Oestriminis
In Latin poetry Oestreminis was a name given to the territory of what is today modern Portugal, comparable to Finis terrae, the "end of the earth" from a Mediterranean perspective...
). More recent scholars have emended the too credulous reliance on Avienus' accuracy of his editor, the historian-archaeologist Adolf Schulten
Adolf Schulten
Adolf Schulten was a German historian and archaeologist.Schulten was born in Elberfeld, Rhine Province, and received a Doctorate in Geology from the University of Bonn in 1892. He studied in Italy, Africa and Greece with support from the Institute of Archaeology...
. Another ancient chief text cited by Avienus is the Periplus of Himilco
Himilco the Navigator
Himilco , a Carthaginian navigator and explorer, lived during the height of Carthaginian power, the 5th century BC....
, the description of a Punic expedition through the coasts of western Europe which took place at the same time of the circummnavigation of Africa by Hanno (c. 500 BC).
Ora Maritima includes reference to the islands of Ierne
Ierne
Ierne may refer to:* Ériu, a goddess of Ireland* Ireland...
and Albion
Albion
Albion is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island or England in particular. It is also the basis of the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, whose inhabitants reputedly traded with the Oestrymnides of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. The work was dedicated to Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus
Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus
Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus was a leading Roman aristocrat of the later 4th century, renowned for his wealth, power and social connections.-Family:...
.
The whole text derives from a single manuscript source, used for the editio princeps published at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1488.
Ruf[i]us Festus
This Avienus is surely not identical with the Rufus (?) Festus who wrote, ca. 369, an epitomeEpitome
An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment....
of Roman history in the genre called breviarium:
The scholar Theodore Mommsen identified that author with Rufius Festus, proconsul of Achaea
Achaea
Achaea is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. The population exceeds 300,000 since 2001.-Geography:...
in 366, and both with Rufus Festus Avienus. Others take him to be Festus of Tridentum, magister memoriae (secretary) to Valens
Valens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
and notoriously severe proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
of the province of Asia, where he was sent to punish those implicated in the conspiracy of Theodorus. The work itself (Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani) is divided into two parts, one geographical, the other historical.
Further reading
- Alan Cameron, "Macrobius, Avienus, and Avianus" The Classical Quarterly New Series, 17.2 (November 1967), pp 385–399.
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
- P. van de Woestijne: . 1959
- H. Zehnacker: . Illinois Classical Studies 44 (1989), S. 317-329
External links
- Ortelius' bibliography: notes of cartographers
- Ora maritima and Periegesis in Latin, at The Latin LibraryThe Latin LibraryThe Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain. Others have been downloaded from various sites on the Internet . Most of the recent texts have been...
- Introduction and e-text of the "Description" (in French)