Aratus

Greek poet (315?–245? BC). Aratus was born at Soli in Cilicia (region in Asia Minor). He studied in Athens where he was influenced by Zeno, the founder of Stoicism. Stoicism is a philosophy that teaches people to stay calm and control their emotions by focusing on what they can control and accepting what they cannot. Later, Aratus lived in the palace of Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia and Antiochus I, king of Syria. Aratus’s only existing work is a poem on astronomy, “Phaenomena,” dedicated to Zeus. The apostle Paul quoted from that poem in his speech on the Aeropagus in Athens: “We are His offspring” (Acts 17:28).