The logo of the Melammu Project

The Melammu Project

The Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

  The Melammu Project
  
   General description
   Search string
   Browse by topic
   Search keyword
   Submit entry
  
   About
   Open search
   Thematic search
   Digital Library
   Submit item
  
   Ancient texts
   Dictionaries
   Projects
   Varia
   Submit link
  FAQ
  Contact us
  About

  The Newsletter
  To Project Information >

  

The birthday of Rome (1)

 Printable view
Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)

12 Assyrian Identity
05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore
05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore


 		Keywords
astrology
omens
Rome
Period
1st century BCE
Roman Empire 		Channel
Roman philosophers and scholars

Text
The Roman philosopher Tarutius used Chaldean methods in computing the birthday of Rome.

Cicero, De Divinatione 2.98:
Lucius Tarutius of Firmum, who was steeped in Chaldaic lore, made a calculation, based on the assumption that our city’s birthday was on the Feast of Pales (= April 21), at which time tradition says it was founded by Romulus, and from that calculation Tarutius even went so far as to assert that Rome was born when the moon was in the sign of Libra and from that fact unhesitatingly prophesied her destiny.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Cicero, De Divinatione 2.98

Bibliography

Falconer 1964, 480-481Falconer, W. A. Cicero, De senectute, De amicitia, De divinatione. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, London: Heinemann 1964.

Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Cf. The birthday of Rome (2)

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000095.php

Illustrations
No pictures

^
T
O
P