Marcus Manilius was a Roman poet who wrote an instructional poem on astrology in Latin sometime around the early 1st century CE.  Due to a loss of earlier source texts, Manilius’ Astronomica is the earliest textbook on Hellenistic astrology that has survived largely intact into the present time.

The Dating of Manilius

The dating of Manilius is somewhat controversial, although he is generally thought to have written the Astronomica either sometime towards the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, or not long after the ascension of the Emperor Tiberius to the throne.  This dating is entirely the result of allusions that Manilius makes to the emperor during the course of his poem, and these allusions have long been the subject of debate by historians.

A date of circa 14 CE is probably the safest, as this is when Augustus died and Tiberius became Emperor.

Critical Editions

The standard critical edition of Manilius is:

• M. Manilii Astronomica, ed. G. P. Goold, Teubner, Leipzig, 1985 (rev. ed. 1998).

Goold drew heavily on an earlier critical edition that was published by A. E. Housman in the early 20th century:

• M. Manilii Astronomicon, Liber Primus, ed. A. E. Housman, Grant Richards, London, 1903. [Download]
• M. Manilii Astronomicon, Liber Secundus, ed. A. E. Housman, Grant Richards, London, 1912. [Download]
• M. Manilii Astronomicon, Liber Tertius, ed. A. E. Housman, Grant Richards, London, 1916. [Download]
• M. Manilii Astronomicon, Liber Quartus, ed. A. E. Housman, Grant Richards, London, 1920. [Download]
• M. Manilii Astronomicon, Liber Quintus, ed. A. E. Housman, The Richards Press, London, 1930. [Download]

Translations

The standard English translation of Manilius is:

•  Manilius, Astronomica, ed. and trans. G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1977 (rev. ed. 1997).  [Available on Amazon]

A versified English translation of Manilius along with literary and historical commentary is currently in currently in preparation:

• Manilius Astronomica: Prolegomena, Translation and Commentary, Alexander P. MacGregor (forthcoming).

A German translation and commentary on book 5 of Manilius was recently published by Wolfgang Hübner:

• Wolfgang Hübner, Manilius, Astronomica, Buch V, Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Commentare, 2 vols., De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 2010.

For an Italian translation and commentary see:

• Manilio, Il poema degli astri (Astronomica), 2 vols., trans. Riccardo Scarcia, ed. Enrico Flores and Simonetta Feraboli, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1996-2001.

Bibliography

Goold, G.P. (ed. and trans.), Manilius, Astronomica, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1977 (rev. ed. 1997).

Goold, G.P. (ed.), M. Manilii Astronomica, Teubner, Leipzig, 1985 (rev. ed. 1998).

Green and Volk (eds.), Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius’ Astronomica, Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, 2011. [Available on Amazon]

Hübner, Wolfgang (trans.). Manilius, Astronomica, Buch V, Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Commentare. 2 vols. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 2010.

Scarcia, Riccardo (trans.), Enrico Flores and Simonetta Feraboli (eds.).   Manilio, Il poema degli astri (Astronomica). 2 vols. Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milan, 1996-2001.

Volk, Katharina, Manilius and His Intellectual Background, Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, 2009. [Available on Amazon]

Article Information

• Author: Chris Brennan
• Originally published: January 21, 2012 |   Last updated: March 5, 2012
• Article notes: The article is currently incomplete, and is primarily acting as a placeholder until I can add the other sections.
• Cite this article: Chris Brennan, “Marcus Manilius”, The Hellenistic Astrology Website, March 5, 2012, http://www.hellenisticastrology.com/astrologers/marcus-manilius/