Iulius Firmicus Maternus

Iulius Firmicus Maternus was a 4th century Roman senator and astrological writer who later converted to Christianity. Otherwise hardly anything is known about his life.

Works

Around 335 to 337, Firmicus from Sicily wrote the Matheseos libri octo - or Mathesis for short -, a work on ancient astrology in eight books. In terms of content, Firmicus Maternus "shows a defense of astrology in the first book, in the other 7 the basic astrological terms and teachings of the 12 places, celestial axes and especially the horoscopes in the zodiac signs, in their connection with one or more planets in its various aspects. Then the predictions about children, parents, illnesses, marriage, mental illnesses, various professions are given. The 8th book contains a short description of the Sphaera Barbarica. " The work is dedicated to the governor of Campania , Egnatius Lollianus Mavortius .

Firmicus Maternus later converted to Christianity and wrote the book De errore profanarum religionum between 346 and 350 , in which he attacked the non-Christian religions and called for their extermination.

Trivia

The crater Firmicus is named after him.

Chemistry is mentioned as a science for the first time in the Mathesis .

expenditure

• Wilhelm Kroll , Franz Skutsch (Ed.): Matheseos libri VIII . Vol. 1, 1897 (Vol. 1 online) ; Vol. 2, 1913 (with Konrat Ziegler) (Vol. 2 online) . Reprinted with addenda Teubner, Stuttgart 1968.
• Hagall Thorsonn (transl.): Julii Fermici Materni matheseos libri VIII . Kalisch, Koenigsberg 1927.
• Germanus Morin (Ed.): J. Firmici Materni Consultationes Zacchaei et Apollonii. Ad normam codicum recognitas adiectis adnotationibus criticis et indicibus . Hanstein, Bonn 1935.
• Konrat Ziegler (Ed.): De errore profanarum religionum . Hueber, Munich 1953.
  Translation: On the error of pagan religions . Ibid.
• Pierre Month (Ed.): Mathesis. 2nd Edition. 3 volumes. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2002–2003.
• Hagall Thorsonn (translator), Reinhard Stiehle (ed.): The Eight Books of Knowledge - Matheséos libri VIII . Chiron Verlag Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3899971712

literature

Overview representations

• Michael von Albrecht : History of Roman literature from Andronicus to Boethius and its continued effect . Volume 2. 3rd, improved and expanded edition. De Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-026525-5 , pp. 1384-1389
• Stephen Gersh: Firmicus Maternus (Iulius). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 3, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 423-425
• Wolfgang Huebner , Antonie Wlosok : Firmicus Maternus. In: Reinhart Herzog (ed.): Restoration and renewal. The Latin literature from 284 to 374 AD (= Handbook of the Latin Literature of Antiquity , Volume 5). CH Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-31863-0 , pp. 84-93
• Kocku von Stuckrad : History of Astrology. From the beginning to the present . CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-54777-5 , pp. 117-119

Investigations

• Georg Blasko: Basic lines of the astrological worldview according to the Mathesis of Firmicus Maternus. Innsbruck 1956 (dissertation)
• Karl Hoheisel: The judgment on the non-Christian religions in the treatise 'De errore profanarum religionum' by Iulius Firmicus Maternus . Bonn 1971 (dissertation)
• Antonie Wlosok: On the Latin apologetics of the Constantinian time (Arnobius, Lactantius, Firmicus Maternus) . In: Gymnasium 96, 1989, pp. 133-148.

Web links

• Literature by and about Iulius Firmicus Maternus in the catalog of the German National Library
• David McCann: Julius Firmicus Maternus. Portrait of a Roman astrologer (1994)

Remarks

1. ↑ Berneker, Erich: "Iulius Firmicus Maternus". In: Der Kleine Pauly , vol. 2. Stuttgart and Weimar, 2013, col. 554.
2. ↑ Winfried Pötsch u. a .: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 146.