Aratus and the Astronomical Tradition
Workshop
School of Classics, University of St Andrews
18 June 2010
This workshop took place with the support of the Science and Empire Project. It is envisaged that it may in future form the core of a research cluster and/or published volume. It brought together national and international scholars working on aspects of this immensely influential astronomical poem, the Phaenomena (third century BC). There were eight papers and a round-table session, as follows:
- Emma Gee (St Andrews), 'Cycles of Poetry: Hesiod and Empedocles in Aratus' Myth of Dike'
- Katharina Volk (Columbia), 'Letters in the Sky? Reading the Signs in Aratus' Phaenomena';
- Richard Hunter (Cambridge), 'Aratus and Plutarch';
- Caroline Bishop (UPenn), 'Astronomy and Truth in Hipparchus of Nicaea';
- Rob Colborn (New College Oxford), 'The Afterlife of Aratus' Acrostics';
- Joe Farrell (UPenn),'Argonautic Constellations in Latin Poetry';
- Steven Green (Leeds), 'The Curious Case of the Dog-star in the Summer-time: the Roman Aratea as Vehicles for Astrological Discourse';
- Daniele Pellacani (Bologna), 'Lost (and Found) in Translation';
- Round table session: Why Aratus? Directions in Aratean Scholarship.
The day was extremely successful and well-attended by non-speakers, both local and from further afield. It represents a useful contribution to a growing area of scholarship on the intersection between ancient scientific and literary discourse.