Astronomical Images : The Sun on his chariot drawn by four horses

Aratus

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This image comes from an edition of a work by Aratus of Soli (third century BC) that was firstly translated by Cicero and later by Avienus in the fourth century AD. It remained fashionable until the sixteenth century. The edition includes a long series of woodcuts showing personifications of constellations, planets and zodiac signs, which were mostly derived from Erhard Ratdolt's 1482 edition of G. Julius Hyginus' <i>Poetica astronomica</i>. The edition contained the life of Aratus, translated from the Greek into Latin, by the printer, Aldo Manuzio. It was issued alongside a magnificent collection of other ancient astrological texts, which included Marcus Manilius's <i>Astronomicorum libri quinque</i>. This latter work, by the first-century Roman astrologer, was previously published by Regiomontanus at his Nuremberg press in c. 1474, and was subsequently published by Joseph Justus Scaliger. In this edition, each planet is shown on a chariot with a zodiac sign marked on a wheel. Every planet was believed to 'rule' a sign of the zodiac or two. Thus the Sun here is shown with the sign of Leo.</p>