cacumen summum

Latin noun

Last edited: 2024-11-25
Primary meaning midheaven
Literal translation highest extreme-point
Variants
cacumen summum
summum cacumen
Edited by
midheaven cardinal point, astrological concept

poetic

quae nisi perpetuis alterna sorte volantem cursibus excipiant nectantque in vincula, bina per latera atque imum templi summumque cacumen, dissociata fluat resoluto machina mundo.

‘did they not receive the circle, sign after sign in succession, flying in its perpetual revolution, and clamp it with fetters at the two sides and lowest and highest extremities of its compass, heaven would fly apart and its fabric disintegrate and perish.’

— Manilius, Astronomica 2.804 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 146-147

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). cacumen summum (Lemma #2208). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). cacumen summum (Lemma #2208). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). cacumen summum (Lemma #2208). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) cacumen summum (Lemma #2208), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac2208,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {cacumen summum ({Lemma} #2208)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/2208/},
}