Roman poet whose Latin text, Astronomica, is the oldest detailed instructional work on astrological technique to survive (more or less) intact. A long, didactic poem in five books, it provides our earliest description of house meanings, as well as detailed accounts on how to calculate the ascendant, the meanings of the zodiac signs, constellations, aspects, chronocrators, decans, and various other technical matters. References within the text show that Manilius lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, so wrote his work between the years 14-27 CE. It is almost certain that Manilius versified an earlier well-known astrological text, and that his work survived because of its artistic format. An English translation was made by G.P. Goold in 1977 for the Loeb Classical Library.