Recently there has been a constant increase in secondary literature on Manilius' cosmological didactic poem, written in the late-Augustan/early-Tiberian period. However, a concentration on ideological-political or narratological perspectives means that attention has been focused on individual passages, prooemia, excurses or other marginal sections, while the main material, the astrological teachings, have been neglected. However, above all in the last century, our knowledge of astrology has been significantly furthered by numerous (new) editions of the works of Teukros of Babylon, Dorotheos, Vettius Valens and Hephaistion. These texts are particularly important for our understanding of the fifth book of the Astronomica.

Wolfgang Hübner, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.