Plinys natural history, either directly or indirectly through quotes by later authors, greatly influenced the development of the bestiary and other medieval beast literature. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to pliny. Plinys natural history and the flavian templum paris 311 have developed to any significant degree, despite occasional claims on either end of the network that ambassadors were received for example, augustuss claims to have received ambassadors from india, and chinas claims to have received embassies from rome. Plinys natural history and the flavian templum paris 311. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient. Pliny the elder wrote many works of history and biography, but he is best known for his book called natural history which gives moderns a good idea about the thinking of the ancients about biology, science, and medicine. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. In addition, however, it provides valuable insight into the extraordinary complex of ideas and beliefs current in plinys era, many of which have resonances for other eras and cultures. In ad 77, pliny published his famous 37volume work naturalis historia or natural history. Internet archive bookreader plinys natural history. This book is available with additional data at biodiversity heritage library. Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived.
As a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in ancient rome it is unparalleled. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read plinys natural history. Although pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in his 37volume treatise, he can be credited with the creation of the first scientific encyclopaedia. The description in plinys natural history of gilding bronze by using mercury becomes clearer if it is seen as a process in which mercury is used only as an adhesive for the gold leaf and in which it is not necessary to heat the object after gilding to drive off the excess mercury as is the case in the more usual fire or mercurygilding. Naturalis historia is an early encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. The elder pliny on the human animal mary beagon oxford.
As one of the largest and most comprehensive surviving works from the roman empire, pliny the elders natural history offers a rare glimpse into the scholarship of the ancient world. The letters of pliny the younger audiobook by john b. Cambridge core history of ideas plinys encyclopedia by aude doody. Pliny read and dictated in a sedan chair as he moved about urban areas. Remedies against canine madness ib 64 the nature of the.
In 37 books, pliny the eldernot to be confused with his nephew, pliny the youngercovers botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, geography, mineralogy, and how each of these interact with roman life. The eclipse of both sun and moon within 15 days of each other has occurred even in our time, in the year of the third consulship of the elder emperor vespasian and the second. Direct observation, informed speculation and common knowledge are combined to present a key snapshot of ancient thought and the romans perspective on the world around them. Naturalis historia natural history pliny natural history is the most common title for this work in english. Pomponius secundus, in two books, a person by whom. Pliny was a compiler, a gatherer and recorder of information. When pliny the elder perished at stabiae during the eruption of vesuvius in ad 79, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his 37volume natural history, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Mingling acute observation with often wild speculation, it offers a fascinating view of the world as it was understood in the first century ad, whether describing the danger of diving for sponges, the first waterclock, or the use of asses milk to remove wrinkles.
The natural history of pliny, volume 2 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. Cleopatra, the last of the queens of egypt, was in possession of them both, they having come to her by descent from the kings of. On our entrance into africa, we find the two mauritanias, which, until the time of caius c. And lastly he has left thirtyseven books on natural history, a work of great compass and learning. Pliny the elders most popular book is natural history. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Page 431 the name which these stones bear, originates, it is said, in the peculiar tint of their brilliancy, which, after closely approaching the colour of wine, passes off into a violet without being fully pronounced. An eagle which precipitated itself on the funeral pile of a girl. The mountain is already excavated for a distance of fifteen hundred paces. These are the dated astronomical observations from pliny the elders natural history ref.
This extraordinary work was originally composed and. The unfinished works of the natural history are not abandoned. These selections from the natural history are fascinating. Pliny the elders natural history, from firstcentury rome, is the most important surviving encyclopedia of the ancient world. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient knowledge natural history became a model for later encyclopedias and scholarly works as a result of its breadth of subject matter, its referencing. That would imply that pliny lived in astr 255 to 311 instead as commonly. The science and aesthetics of naming in the natural history, in pliny the elder. Concentrating on plinys accounts of foreign lands and peoples, monsters, and barbarians, trevor murphy demonstrates the political significance of this reference book as a.
The extreme promontory of africa, which projects into the ocean, is called ampelusia 4 by the greeks. Caria eam disterminat, hyllum et cryon, et ipsos phrygiae, mysiae, lydiae amnibus repletos. Publication date 1938 topics natural history publisher. In book iii pliny the elder 2379 cd covers the geography of the iberian peninsula and italy. For centuries the natural history served as the western worlds primary source of scientific information and theory book i summarizes the entire contents of the work, listing the authors and sometimes the titles of.
Astronomical observations by pliny in his natural history, book ii. Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Publication date 184749 topics natural history publisher london printed for the club by g.
Plinys encyclopedia by aude doody cambridge university press. The reliability of plinys chapters on greek and roman. Pliny s natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Identifying exotic animals in plinys natural history scholarship. Natural history pliny currently redirects to naturalis historia, the result of a recent page move. Astronomical observations by pliny in his natural history. The world, and this whatever other name men have chosen to designate the sky whose vaulted roof encircles the universe is fitly believed to be a deity, eternal, immeasurable, a being that never began to exist and never will perish.
American museum of natural history handbook series no. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. Pliny the elder has 277 books on goodreads with 3818 ratings. Grieving his loss, pliny the younger inherited the elders notebooks filled with pearls of wisdom and his legacy. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny, vol i. Cleopatras pearls dissolved in vinegar the history blog. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the modern day and purports to. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of. Enkuklios paideia and the ancient encyclopedia, journal of the history of ideas 70, no. Pliny the elder, latin in full gaius plinius secundus, born 23 ce, novum comum, transpadane gaul now in italydied august 24, 79, stabiae, near mount vesuvius, roman savant and author of the celebrated natural history, an encyclopaedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the middle ages. When the eagle was first used as the standard of the roman legions. I ran a first proofreading pass immediately after entering each book, so that the text of all the books is quite good already.
Pliny the elders natural history trevor murphy oxford. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny. Tres autem circuli supra dictis zonis inplexi inaequalitates temporum distingunt, solstitialis a parte signiferi excelsissima nobis ad septentrionalem plagam versus, contraque ad alium polum brumalis, item medio ambitu signiferi orbis incedens aequinoctialis. Naturalis historia is a book about the whole of the natural world in latin by pliny the elder, a roman author and naval commander who died in 79 ad. It is no disparagement to hollands merits, as a diligent and generally faithful translator, to say that his work is unsuited to the requirements of the nineteenth century. Plinys natural history and the flavian templum pacis jstor.
The project gutenberg ebook of the boys and girls pliny, by the elder pliny and john s. Geoaris, dionysia, cyrnus, chalcis, pinara, and mystus. Plinys natural history and the flavian templum pacis. The zoology chapters books 8 to 11 are frequently quoted, though pliny is not always acknowledged as the. Pliny was an energetic man, hugely desirous of literary immortality, who wrote his books in the interstices of a full career as a soldier and an administrator. As a detailed study of the human animal, described by its author as the raison detre of nature, book seven of the elder plinys natural history is crucial to the understanding of the work as a whole. Pliny the elder, natural history, aristotle, historia animalium, roman, ancient greek. Towards the end of his account of painting in book 35, in a section on.