Avienus

:This page is about a Roman author whose cognomen was Avienus. For the Roman gens, see Aviena (gens). 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 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 descriptio orbis terrae . Only Book I survives, with an unsteady grasp of actual geography and some far-fetched etymologies: see Ophiussa.

Ora maritima

Avienus wrote Ora Maritima ("Sea coasts"), a poem containing borrowings from the early 6th century BC Massiliote Periplus. This poeticised periplus 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.

Ruf[i]us Festus

This Avienus is surely not identical with the Rufus (?) Festus who wrote, ca. 369, an epitome 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.

See also

Ophiussa

Thule

Pytheas

Oestriminis

Ligures

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: . ICS 44 (1989), S. 317-329

Notes

External links

Ortelius' bibliography: notes of cartographers

Ora maritima and Periegesis in Latin, at The Latin Library

Introduction and e-text of the "Description" (in French)

Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing Category:Late Antique Latin-language writers Category:4th-century writers Category:4th-century Romans