From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Star
ἀστήρ
astērAstēr names a star or heavenly body.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAstēr names a star or heavenly body.
- In StobaeusThales is assigned earthy stars that are on fire; this separates their material from their condition.
- In this edition“Fixed” refers to stellar arrangement and need not deny the common rotation of the heavens.
- A place to beginEarthy constitution is distinguished from being on fire.
- English renderings
- star; heavenly body
Meaning
Astēr names a star or heavenly body. The term’s scope in ancient classifications should be read with the distinction between fixed and wandering stars.
Use in the book
Thales is assigned earthy stars that are on fire; this separates their material from their condition. Aristotle’s reported stars are constituted from the fifth body and need no nourishment. The account under Heraclides and the Pythagoreans makes each star a world containing earth and air. These differences concern what sort of thing a star is, not simply different words for the same material.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Fixed” refers to stellar arrangement and need not deny the common rotation of the heavens. “World” in a stellar account is retained without identifying it with a modern solar system.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 201, 204.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Stars
stars; starry heavens — luminous heavenly bodies, signs and gifts of creation
Stars belong to the visible heavens.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordStars belong to the visible heavens.
- In TraherneStars become the reader’s jewels without being removed from their places.
- In this editionInfluences is a historical natural-philosophical term where it occurs.
- A place to beginThe stars are claimed as jewels within an enlarged enjoyment of the world.
Meaning
Stars belong to the visible heavens. Traherne treats their beauty, their supposed influences, and their availability to common sight as distinct sources of significance.
Use in the book
Stars become the reader’s jewels without being removed from their places. The image reverses the ordinary preference for rare ornaments: a shared celestial splendour can enrich more people, more deeply, than a privately held stone. Their apparent remoteness also exercises the mind’s capacity to reach beyond its bodily station.
David provides a model of this valuation. Royal magnificence does not prevent him from preferring the heavens to precious stones, and the moon and stars become occasions for recognizing human dignity and divine care. Traherne’s astronomical language remains historically situated. He can connect the stars with influences and terrestrial service without supplying a technical theory of how every such effect occurs.
Places to read
- I.30The stars are claimed as jewels within an enlarged enjoyment of the world.
- III.18Thought reaches above the stars while asking about the limits of the heavens.
- III.69David prefers stars and divine works to royal precious stones.
- III.71The moon and stars introduce the psalmic meditation on human dignity.
In this edition
Influences is a historical natural-philosophical term where it occurs. Do not silently translate it into a verified modern physical mechanism or assume that the passage is giving an astrological horoscope.
Source note
Primary text: I.30, III.18, III.69, III.71. No 2026 editorial notes used.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Stars
ἄστρα (astra); πύρινα (pyrina); πρώτην διάκρισιν (prōtēn diakrisin)
Ἄστρα are stars or celestial lights; πύρινα calls them fiery.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordἌστρα are stars or celestial lights; πύρινα calls them fiery.
- In this workAëtius at A53 says the stars are made from the fiery material that air contained within itself and squeezed out at the first separation.
- In this editionThe bracketed identification of the subject as stars is editorially supplied in the Greek.
- A place to readMakes stars fiery material squeezed out of air at the first separation.
Meaning
Ἄστρα are stars or celestial lights; πύρινα calls them fiery. The “first separation” phrase places their origin within the cosmogonic sequence described by the witness. It need not name the first event in all time.
Use in the book
Aëtius at A53 says the stars are made from the fiery material that air contained within itself and squeezed out at the first separation. The compressed statement assigns them both a material and a mode of release. It is best read beside the broader sorting of aither, fire, earth, water and air at A49, while recognizing that the excerpt does not provide a complete integrated chronology.
The distinct A54 notice divides fixed stars from planets according to their relation to the crystal: the former are bound, the latter free. It addresses support and motion rather than the production of their fiery material. The two statements can be connected, but one does not supply every missing detail of the other.
The vocabulary is therefore ancient physical description, not a claim anticipating modern stellar composition or energy generation. The significance lies in extending the root-based account to lights in the heavens through expulsion from an enclosing material.
Places to read
- A 53 (testimony)Aëtius II 13,2 (D. 341). Makes stars fiery material squeezed out of air at the first separation.
- A 54 (testimony)Aëtius II 13,11 (D. 342). Adds the separate distinction between stars bound to crystal and planets left free.
Translation in this edition
The bracketed identification of the subject as stars is editorially supplied in the Greek. The testimony is a short prose report, without an embedded verse quotation.