Skyscript now has a feature-rich new page about Manilius and his Astronomica, a topic crying out for better representation on the web.

https://www.skyscript.co.uk/manilius.html

The Astronomica is an incredibly important astrology source text, as the oldest instructional manual on astrology we have. It is often overlooked that this work is also one of pure artistry, written in verse to delight the soul. The page draws attention to what the Astronomica offers and the long line of scholars involved in the text’s restoration and translation into English.
The page includes Mireille Crossley’s article ‘Who was Marcus Manilius – astrologer, astronomer, poet … slave ?’ a fascinating exploration which pieces together a feasible biography with plausible details, allowing – for the first time – the figure of Manilius to emerge as a relatable, full-bodied character with an incredible back-story, rather than a shady figure for which nothing is known other than a name and a handful of sketchy, awkward, and generally self-contradictory potentials.
Mireille also gave a presentation about this topic at this year’s AA conference, the recording of which is embedded as a resource within this page or available for public viewing on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G654O2ff94k

thanks deb!

it looks fascinating and i like the little write up you did here on it.... i will check it out..