Aratus of Soli was a Hellenistic didactic poet, born around 315 BCE in Cilicia. He studied in Athens, where he associated with the Stoic founder Zeno of Citium and the poet Menander. His primary patron was King Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedon, for whom he composed his famous poem, the Phaenomena, at the court in Pella. He also spent time with Antiochus I Soter of Syria and died around 240 or 239 BCE.

His extant masterpiece is the Phaenomena, a didactic poem on astronomy and weather signs composed in epic dialect. Four other works are attested but lost: On the Heavens, On the Rising of the Dog-Star, On the Rising of the Pleiades, and Various Hymns. Aratus’s significance rests on the immense influence of the Phaenomena, a versification of works by the astronomers Eudoxus and Theophrastus. It was widely read, translated by figures such as Cicero and Germanicus, and its opening lines were quoted by the Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, ensuring its enduring fame in both classical and Christian traditions.