orbis lacteus

Latin noun

Last edited: 2024-04-16
Primary meaning milky way
Literal translation milky ring
Variants
orbis lacteus
lacteus orbis
Edited by
milky way astronomical term

quae ratio orbem lacteum faciat

‘why it causes the milky way [to exist]’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 1.0.5

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. 1.3

e niveo lactis fluxisse liquorem pectore reginae divum caelumque colore infecisse suo; quapropter lacteus orbis dicitur,

‘from the snow-white breast of heaven’s queen there flowed a stream of milk which left its colour upon the skies; wherefore is it called the Milky Way’

— Manilius, Astronomica 1.751 ff

Genre: astrological treatise

Manilius. Astronomica. Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 469. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 64-65

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). orbis lacteus (Lemma #851). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). orbis lacteus (Lemma #851). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). orbis lacteus (Lemma #851). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) orbis lacteus (Lemma #851), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac851,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {orbis lacteus ({Lemma} #851)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/851/},
}