bolis

Latin · noun
Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2025-10-07
Meanings
Literal translation
missile
Categories
celestial phenomenon

1. "missile" meteor

1.a "missile" meteor celestial phenomenon

fireball phenomenon

alterum lampadas vocant, plane faces, alterum bolidas, quale Mutinensibus malis visum est.

‘one sort are called lampades, which means ‘torches,’ the other bolides (missiles),—that is the sort that appeared at the time of the disasters of Modena.’

— Pliny, Natural History 2.96

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). bolis (Lemma #6070). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). bolis (Lemma #6070). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). bolis (Lemma #6070). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) bolis (Lemma #6070), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac6070,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {bolis ({Lemma} #6070)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6070/},
}