MATHEMATICIAN, ASTRONOMER, METEOROLOGIST, BOTANIST

Life
A native of Soli in Cilicia and the son of soldier / politician Athenodorus, Aratus studied with Menecrates in Ephesus and Philetus in Cos. As a disciple of the Peripatetic philosopher Praxiphanes, in Athens, he met the Stoic philosopher Zeno, as well as Callimachus of Cyrene and Menedemus, the founder of the Eretrian School. He later spent some time at the court of Antiochus I Soter of Syria, and lived for a period in Alexandria. He died in Pella in 240 BC. He is cited by Vitruvius, Hipparchus, Stephen of Byzantium and Stobaeus.


Work
His principal writings are:

"Phaenomena": Describes the constellations and celestial phenomena, in 1154 hexameters.

Part I: "Constellations"

Part II: "Stars that rise and set together".

Part III: "Signs and portents" (weather-forecasting).

This didactic poem was written in Pella in 277 BC by order of Antigonus Gonatas, king of

Macedonia. It was translated into Latin by Cicero and Caesar Germanicus.

"On the orient or resection"

"Astrology"