Editing Aratus (section)

==Life==
There are several accounts of Aratus's life by anonymous Greek writers, and the [[Suda]] and Eudocia also mention him. From these it appears that he was a native of [[Soli, Cilicia|Soli]]<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/bc3/year240.html#22 attalus website] retrieved 15/09/2011</ref> in [[Cilicia]] (although one authority says [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]]). He is known to have studied with [[Menecrates of Ephesus|Menecrates]] in [[Ephesus]] and [[Philitas]] in [[Kos|Cos]]. As a disciple of the Peripatetic philosopher [[Praxiphanes]], in [[Athens]], he met the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Zeno of Citium|Zeno]], as well as [[Callimachus]] of [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] and [[Menedemus]], the founder of the [[Eretrian school]]. He was the son of Athenodoros, and also had a brother with this name.

About 276 BC Aratus was invited to the court of the [[Macedon]]ian king [[Antigonus II Gonatas]], whose victory over the [[Gauls]] in 277 Aratus set to verse. Here he wrote his most famous poem, ''Phenomena''. He then spent some time at the court of [[Antiochus I Soter]] of [[Syria]], but subsequently returned to [[Pella]] in Macedon, where he died sometime before 240/239.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>A. W. Mair and G. R. Mair, trans., ''Callimachus and Lycophron''; Aratus, Loeb Classical Library (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1921), p. 363</ref> His chief pursuits were [[Medicine in ancient Greece|medicine]] (which is also said to have been his profession), [[Ancient Greek grammar|grammar]], and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]].