adversus

Latin adjective

Last edited: 2025-10-07
Primary meaning opposite
Literal translation opposite
Variants
adversus
Edited by
opposite aspect

quod sidera abscondit, quod terras, cum tanto maior sit illis, non urit sed calorem suum intensionibus ac remissionibus temperando fovet, quod lunam numquam implet nisi adversam sibi, nec obscurat nisi obliquam

‘It hides the stars. Although the sun is much larger than the earth it does not burn it up but fosters it by controlling its heat in an alternately more intense and more subdued degree. It never causes the moon to be full unless it is opposite, nor dims it by phases unless it is oblique.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 7.1.3

Genre: philosophy
Date: 62/63 CE

Seneca. Natural Questions, Volume II: Books 4-7. Translated by Thomas H. Corcoran. Loeb Classical Library 457. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. 228-229

contrary to the motion of the sky planetary motion

iuvat ire per ipsum aera et immenso spatiantem vivere caelo et adversos stellarum noscere cursus.

‘It is my delight to traverse the very air and spend my life touring the boundless skies, learning of the constellations and the contrary motions of the planets.’

— Manilius, Astronomica 1.13 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 4-7

The fixed stars of the sky revolve from east to west, and so do the planets (seven, ineluding the Sun and Moon); but the speed of the latter is somewhat slower, so that their movement appears to be contrary to that of the stars. (Goold 1977)
intersecting mathematical property

of lines

His adice obliquos adversaque fila trahentis inter se gyros

‘To these you must add two circles which lie athwart and trace lines that cross each other.’

— Manilius, Astronomica 1.666

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 56-57

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). adversus (Lemma #1863). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). adversus (Lemma #1863). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). adversus (Lemma #1863). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) adversus (Lemma #1863), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1863,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {adversus ({Lemma} #1863)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1863/},
}