author

Julius Firmicus Maternus

A fourth-century Roman writer who moved from astrology to fierce Christian polemic, leaving behind works that open a vivid window onto the religious debates of late antiquity.

1 Audiobook

Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe : Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus.

Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe : Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus.

by Julius Firmicus Maternus, Proclus, Tauros

About the author

Writing in Latin during the age of Constantine, Julius Firmicus Maternus is known as one of the more unusual figures of late antiquity: a learned Roman author associated both with astrology and with Christian apologetics. Reference works describe him as active in the fourth century and connect him with a strong classical education.

He is best known for two very different surviving works. The Matheseos libri VIII is a substantial treatise on astrology, while De errore profanarum religionum attacks pagan cults and argues from a Christian point of view. That sharp contrast is one reason he continues to interest historians of religion, philosophy, and the ancient world.

Details of his life are limited and not always certain, but standard sources present him as a Roman writer, probably from Sicily, who lived under Constantine and his successors. Even with the gaps in the record, his books remain valuable for readers who want to see how belief, learning, and argument met in the later Roman Empire.