Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed.

Life and works

Hyginus may have originated either from

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, or from the

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ian city of

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. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammaticis'', 20. Suetonius remarks that Hyginus fell into great poverty in his old age and was supported by the historian Clodius Licinus. Hyginus was a voluminous author: his works included topographical and biographical treatises, commentaries on Helvius Cinna and the poems of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

, and disquisitions on agriculture and bee-keeping. All these are lost.

Attributed works

Two Latin works which have survived under the name of Hyginus are a mythological handbook, known as the ''Genealogiae'' or the '' Fabulae'', and an astronomical work, entitled '' De astronomia''. Though there a handful of scholars who posit that Gaius Julius Hyginus was the Hyginus who authored these works, there is general agreement that they were composed by a separate author. In the earliest edition of the ''Fabulae'', produced in 1535 by Jacob Micyllus, the work is ascribed to Gaius Julius Hyginus, though it is unclear whether this attribution was added by Micyllus himself, or was there prior to him.Fletcher, p. 200.

Legacy

The lunar crater Hyginus and the minor planet 12155 Hyginus are named after him. The English author Sir Thomas Browne opens his discourse '' The Garden of Cyrus'' (1658) with a Creation myth sourced from the ''Fabulae'' of Hyginus.

Notes

References

* '' Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 6'', Hat – Jus, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2005. . * * Fletcher, "Hyginus, ''Fabulae''", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography'', pp. 97–114, edited by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Oxford University Press, 2022. . * Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', London and New York, Routledge, 2004. .
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* ''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'', edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.
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* Smith, R. Scott, "Mythography in Latin", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography'', pp. 97–114, edited by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Oxford University Press, 2022. .

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