De astronomia (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana)

by Hyginus

Written primarily in Latin, 1992 edition.

235 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 200

About the author

Gaius Julius Hyginus (c.64 BC - AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' De Grammaticis, 20. It is not clear whether Hyginus was a native of the Iberian Peninsula or of Alexandria.

Suetonius remarks that Hyginus fell into great poverty in his old age and was supported by the historian Clodius Licinus. Hyginus was a voluminous author: his works included topographical and biographical treatises, commentaries on Helvius Cinna and the poems of Virgil, and disquisitions on agriculture and bee-keeping. All these are lost.

Under the name of Hyginus there are extant what are probably two sets of school notes abbreviating his treatises on mythology; one is a collection of Fabulae ("stories"), the other a "Poetical Astronomy".

Reviews

[Chiara Milani · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐️

[Lecy Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The translated version by Mary Grant was concise and easy to read next to the original Latin. I enjoy learning about mythology and this was a wonderful jump into the Latin myths.