Lucius Tarutius Firmanus (or Lucius Tarutius of Firmum ) (unknown-fl. 86 BC) was a Roman philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer (Taruntius or Tarrutius are also used, but are incorrect).
Tarutius was a close friend of both Marcus Terentius Varro and Cicero. At Varro's request, Tarutius took the horoscope of Romulus. After studying the circumstances of the life and death of the founder of Rome, Tarutius calculated that Romulus was born on March 24 (when the date is correctly translated from the Egyptian calendar) in the second year of the second Olympiad (i.e. 771 BC). He also calculated that Rome was founded on 4 October 754 BC, between the second and third hour of the day (Plutarch, Rom., 12; Cicero, De Divin., ii. 47.). [1] The proximity of this date to an eclipse was discussed by Scaliger. [2]
Donne, William Bodham (1870). "Firmanus, Tarutius". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . Vol. 2. p. 151.  | This history of science article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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The gens Tarutia, also found as Tarrutia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned in Roman history, of whom the best-known is probably Lucius Tarutius Firmanus, a noted mathematician and astrologer of the first century BC.