contrarius

Latin adjective

Last edited: 2025-05-26
Primary meaning in opposition
Literal translation contrary
Variants
contrarius
Edited by

in opposition aspect

Si vero Mars sic Lunam positam minaci radiatione respexerit et utrique, idest Soli et Lunae, partili radiatione fuerit contrarius, corpus gravi vitio debilitat et indicit frequenter oculis caecitates.

‘If however Mars is aspected to the Moon in such a bad way and one of the two, i. e. Sun and Moon, are exactly opposite, he debilitates the body with a defect and often indicates blindness for the eyes’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 4.24.2

Genre: astrological compendium
Provenance: Sicily
Date: ca. 334 CE

Firmicus Maternus. 1897. Ivlii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII, ed. W. Kroll, F. Skutsch. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner. 1.274


in an opposite direction expression of relative position

interque ea solis et lunae, contrarium mundo agere cursum, id est laevom, illo semper in dextram praecipiti;

‘among them the sun and moon, follow a course contrary to that of the world, namely to the left, the world always running to the right.’

— Pliny, Natural History 2.32

Genre: encyclopedia
Provenance: Rome
Date: 77-79 CE

Pliny. Natural History, Volume I: Books 1-2. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library 330. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938.


See also

oppositus in opposition

obsisto to be in opposition

διάμετρος diametrosin opposition

διαμετρέω diametreōto be in opposition

diametrum opposition

ἐναντιόομαι enantioomaito be in opposition

ana tar-ṣi ana tarṣiopposite

ἀντίκειμαι antikeimaito be in opposition

radiis adversus in opposition

ἐναντίος enantiosin opposition

κατὰ διάμετρον kata diametrondiametrically opposite

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). contrarius (Lemma #1239). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/

Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). contrarius (Lemma #1239). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/

MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). contrarius (Lemma #1239). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/

Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) contrarius (Lemma #1239), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{zodiac1239,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {contrarius ({Lemma} #1239)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/},
}