Lucius Tarutius Firmanus

Lucius Tarutius Firmanus (or Lucius Tarutius of Firmum) (unknown-fl. 86 BC) was a Roman philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer (Taruntius or Tarrutius are also used, but are incorrect).

For the mythological figure, see Tarutius.

Tarutius was a close friend of both Marcus Terentius Varro and Cicero. At Varro's request, Tarutius took the horoscope of Romulus. After studying the circumstances of the life and death of the founder of Rome, Tarutius calculated that Romulus was born on March 24 (when the date is correctly translated from the Egyptian calendar) in the second year of the second Olympiad (i.e. 771 BC). He also calculated that Rome was founded on 4 October 754 BC, between the second and third hour of the day (Plutarch, Rom., 12; Cicero, De Divin., ii. 47.).[1] The proximity of this date to an eclipse was discussed by Scaliger.[2]

The crater Taruntius on the Moon is named after him.[3]

Notes
  1. Anthony Grafton and Noel Swerdlow, 'Technical Chronology and Astrological History in Varro, Censorinus, and Others', Classical Quarterly, N 35 (1985), 454–65.
  2. Anthony Grafton : Joseph Scaliger. Oxford University Press, 1983. pp. 111–113
  3. "Lucius Tarutius Firmanus". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
gollark: I don't like GPUs because you should just do trillions of mathematical operations per second by hand and then sketch points very precisely.
gollark: ↑ observe, my excellent memory remembering things
gollark: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/461970193728667648/912042654752198707/unknown.png
gollark: Unlike Conservapedia, it has citations so you can trust it.
gollark: As planned.
  • (in English) Eduardo Vila-Echagüe, Lucius Tarutius and the foundations of Rome
  •  Donne, William Bodham (1870). "Firmanus, Tarutius". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 2. p. 151.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.