DiotimosReading Desk

Heavens and weather

Pits in the sky

βόθυνος

bothunos

Bothunos is a pit or hollow.

From the book

Stobaeus, Volume I

John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordBothunos is a pit or hollow.
  • In StobaeusThe account groups pits with torches, beams, and beards among transient appearances aloft.
  • In this edition“Pits in the sky” preserves the ancient visual comparison while identifying its setting.
  • A place to beginPit-like appearances belong to the phenomena of the region beneath the fixed heavens.
English renderings
pit; hollow; pit-like appearance in the sky

Meaning

Bothunos is a pit or hollow. Applied to the sky, it names an appearance resembling such a hollow.

Use in the book

The account groups pits with torches, beams, and beards among transient appearances aloft. It explicitly explains the names by resemblance. These are things seen in the sky, distinguished from the permanently fixed celestial bodies; the word does not describe a crater made by an object striking the ground.

Places to read

  1. I.40.1.9Pit-like appearances belong to the phenomena of the region beneath the fixed heavens.
  2. I.40.1.47Pits, beams, torches, and beards receive their names from their shapes.

Translation in this edition

“Pits in the sky” preserves the ancient visual comparison while identifying its setting.

Source note

Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 257, 266–267. The older broad sense of “meteorological” concerns phenomena aloft. It should not lead readers to interpret these pits as meteorite impact craters.