SOURCE: Körte, Alfred. “Alexandria: The Epic.” In Hellenistic Poetry, translated by Jacob Hammer and Moses Hadas, pp. 150-256. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929.

In the following excerpt, Körte surveys the content of Aratus's Phaenomena, noting its widespread popularity in the classical era.

Aratus was a contemporary of Callimachus, perhaps an older contemporary, and was descended from a respectable family of Soli, a Greek city of Cilicia. With his brother Athenodorus he went to Athens to study. Both brothers joined the philosopher Zeno, who had at that time founded the Stoic school. Although Aratus' connection with the Stoa does not appear to have been as intimate as that of his brother, its influence on both his inner and his outer life is yet of great importance. It was probably at the recommendation of Zeno that he was invited to Pella to the court of the Macedonian king...