contrarius

Latin · adjective
Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2025-05-26
Meanings
Literal translation
contrary
Categories
aspect
expression of relative position
Related Lemmata 11 ›

1. in opposition

1.a 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

2. in an opposite direction

2.a 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.

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: July 4, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1239,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {contrarius ({Lemma} #1239)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1239/},
}