We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Pliny himself defines his scope as the natural world, or life. While serving in this position he also found time to write his famous natural history which was published in 77. Its an encyclopedia of what passed for scientific information in that time. In the year 79, still admiral of the western fleet, pliny noticed a cloud over the city of pompeii. 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. Please see that article for further relevant bibliography.
Internet archive bookreader pliny s natural history. Pliny the elder was made admiral of the western roman navy. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read plinys natural history. The numbers below refer to the book roman number and paragraph arabic number.
In ad 77, pliny published his famous 37volume work naturalis historia or natural history. Book vii of the natural history provides a detailed examination of the human animal and is. 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. Nov 09, 2017 of course, pliny referred to the first book and others in writing his natural history, but it ended up as a sort of dummys guide to natural history, trying to compose a really wide subject matter into a few books over 2 years, and obviously getting a lot wrong in the process. The natural history, volume 2 by pliny the elder free at. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. This extraordinary work was originally composed and. Among the whole range of animated beings, the human fe 2151. The table below is a summary based on modern names for topics. In book iii pliny the elder 2379 cd covers the geography of the iberian peninsula and italy. The natural history was one of the first ancient european texts to be printed, in venice in 1469. This was an encyclopaedia of 37 books which covered the natural world. Pliny the elders natural history is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural phenomena from cosmology to biology, medicine to magic.
American museum of natural history handbook series no. Pliny s natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. His nephew pliny the younger gives an indication how devoted his uncle was to reading and studying, which was like working to him the only time he took from his work was for his bath, and by bath i mean his actual immersion, for while. Firth 1900 a few words and phrases have been modified. 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. Pliny the elders natural history, from firstcentury rome, is the most important surviving encyclopedia of the ancient world. Natural history pliny project gutenberg selfpublishing. Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology.
Pliny the elders sister, plinia, married a man named caecilius, from the northern italian town of. Concentrating on plinys accounts of foreign lands and peoples, monsters, and barbarians, trevor murphy demonstrates the political significance of this reference book as a. Gaius plinius secundus 23 ad august 25, 79 ad, better known as pliny the elder, was a roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early roman empire, and personal friend of the emperor vespasian. 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. The older man, gaius plinius secundus, is called pliny the elder. This book is available with additional data at biodiversity heritage library. Natural history, encyclopaedic scientific work of dubious accuracy by pliny the elder, completed in 77 ce as naturae historiae and conventionally known as naturalis historia. Philemon hollands english translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since. 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. Pliny the elder wrote the worlds first encyclopedia.
The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such subjects as botany, zoology, and astronomy. He wrote a number of books, but the natural history is the only one that survives. Unusually, the entire remarkable work it contains over a million words has survived intact it is one of the most substantial ancient works available to modern readers. Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived. 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. Pliny the elder naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. 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. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the natural history of pliny. Of course, pliny referred to the first book and others in writing his natural history, but it ended up as a sort of dummys guide to natural history, trying to compose a really wide subject matter into a few books over 2 years, and obviously getting a lot wrong in the process. Pliny the elders natural history trevor murphy oxford. Although pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in his 37volume treatise, he can be credited with. Concentrating on pliny s accounts of foreign lands and peoples, monsters, and barbarians, trevor murphy demonstrates the political significance of this reference book as a. Naturalis historia natural history pliny natural history is the most common title for this work in english.
The works subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history. 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. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny. Publication date 1938 topics natural history publisher. Pliny the elder, roman savant and author of the celebrated natural history, an encyclopedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the middle ages. His natural history contained over a million words in 37 volumes pliny attempted to document all known facts about the natural world. 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.
Plinys 37book naturalis historia is a stupor mundi, an encyclopedia of everything there was to knowwhether it was worth knowing or notin. More information about this seller contact this seller 15. He claimed to have recorded 20,000 pieces of information, although modern scholars say he underestimated his own output. The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such. So far our subject has covered the world and its lands, peoples, seas, notable rivers, islands and. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny the. The natural history by pliny the elder free at loyal books. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. In this book, dr doody examines this concept and its. Book vii is of particular interest, as pliny observes at the start. Agrippa was the first source pliny listed for book 5. Natural history pliny currently redirects to naturalis historia, the result of a recent page move. The natural history there is no book so bad that some good cannot be got out of it, pliny the elder used to say, and he read everything that he could obtain.
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. This is an exlibrary book and may have the usual libraryused book markings inside. The natural history of pliny, volume 6 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. It has often been referred to as an encyclopedia, usually without full awareness of what such a characterisation implies. As a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in ancient rome it is unparalleled. 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. He was a roman author and natural philosopher who wrote naturalis historia or natural history.
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