Ovid, Aratus and Augustus: Astronomy in Ovid's Fasti

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Cambridge University Press, Mar 28, 2000 - History - 226 pages
This book explores how astronomy and power were linked in the early Roman Empire. This is achieved by careful study of the Fasti by the Roman poet Ovid--a poem about the Roman calendar which contains many references to and stories about the stars. The author does not study Ovid's stars by using the techniques of mathematical astronomy but aims to combine the methodology of recent genre-based readings with a broad cultural perspective.

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Contents

Calendrical astronomy?
9
Astronomy and genre
21
Verse and universe in Aratus Phaenomena
66
Vesta and the architecture of the Fasti
92
Roman Aratus
126
The metamorphosis of time
154
Epilogue
188
Technical problems of Ovids astronomy
205
Index of passages discussed
219
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