Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge the contents of the books are as follows. Pliny the elders natural history trevor murphy oxford. The natural history of pliny, volume 6 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. Philemon hollands english translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since. This is an exlibrary book and may have the usual libraryusedbook markings inside.
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. American museum of natural history handbook series no. Pliny read and dictated in a sedan chair as he moved about urban areas. Pliny the elders most popular book is natural history. Utf8 start of this project gutenberg ebook natural history of pliny, vol 1 produced by turgut dincer, brian wilcox. Pliny the elder has 277 books on goodreads with 3818 ratings. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny. 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. Plinys natural history, either directly or indirectly through quotes by later authors, greatly influenced the development of the bestiary and other medieval beast literature. When i got on the net in 1995, i heard all kinds of rumors of various projects out there supposedly putting pliny on the web. Though he wrote many books on history and biography, the elder pliny is most noted for his work natural history which is an encyclopedic compendium of the knowledge of his day. An eagle which precipitated itself on the funeral pile of a girl. The only translation of plinys natural history which has hitherto appeared in the.
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. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny the. 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. Publication date 1938 topics natural history publisher.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the natural history of pliny. An interesting innovation was his listing of the sources of his information. 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 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 historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. This book is available with additional data at biodiversity heritage library. Book vii of the natural history provides a detailed examination of the human animal and is. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny, vol i. As a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in ancient rome it is unparalleled. Questia read the fulltext online edition of natural history of pliny vol. When the eagle was first used as the standard of the roman legions. Pliny the elder, natural history english xml header genre. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny. 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. Although pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in his 37volume treatise, he can be credited with.
Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. I waited a couple of years, then decided that a bird in the hand is worth an annotated inflectionsearchable sacred chicken in a bush, and did it myself. The natural history was one of the first ancient european texts to be printed, in venice in 1469. Buy plinys natural history in thirtyseven books on. 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. Jan 06, 2014 no wonder, then, that an encyclopedia of natural history dating from the early roman empire was extraordinarily popular, not only in its own time but during and well after the renaissance. Pliny was a compiler, a gatherer and recorder of information. Book i summarizes the entire contents of the work, listing the authors and sometimes the titles of the books many of which are now lost from which pliny derived. Volume 9, books 3335, natural history loeb classical.
I ran a first proofreading pass immediately after entering each book, so that the text of all the books is quite good already. Pliny s natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. 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. Natural history pliny currently redirects to naturalis historia, the result of a recent page move. 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. He claimed to have recorded 20,000 pieces of information, although modern scholars say he underestimated his own output. Natural history pliny project gutenberg selfpublishing. Author pliny the elder country ancient rome subject natural history, ethnography, art, sculpture, mining, mineralogy genre encyclopaedia, popular science the natural history is a work by pliny the elder.
Naturalis historia natural history pliny natural history is the most common title for this work in english. 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. In ad 77, pliny published his famous 37volume work naturalis historia or natural history. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. 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 author of the natural history, is called the elder in order to distinguish him from his. The connection between horticulture and medicine the prehistoric discovery that certain plants cause harm and others have curative powers is the origin of the healing professions and its practitioners priest, physician, and apothecary, as well as professions devoted to plants. 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. Start your 48hour free trial to unlock this pliny the elder study guide and get. The natural history by pliny the elder free at loyal books.
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. His greatest and only surviving work, the natural history, has been called one of the most influential books ever written in latin. Under the reign of claudius, pliny attended a public combat between roman troops and a monstrous fish a. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by pliny, the elder author. 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.
Thus did the rare talent of a bird appear a sufficient. Internet archive bookreader plinys natural history. Volume i of the natural history of gaius plinius secundus. The zoology chapters books 8 to 11 are frequently quoted, though pliny is not always acknowledged as the. Pliny the elders natural history, from firstcentury rome, is the most important surviving encyclopedia of the ancient world. 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. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,450grams, isbn. 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. Drawn entirely by zelinsky and derived from pliny the elders celebrated natural history, this book tells the tale of lion and stoatthe two greatest artists who ever livedwho compete for immortality. Pliny the elders natural history is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural phenomena from cosmology to biology, medicine to magic. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of t.
Pliny s natural history, either directly or indirectly through quotes by later authors, greatly influenced the development of the bestiary and other medieval beast literature. The only translation of plinys natural history which has hitherto appeared in the english language is that by philemon holland, published in the latter part of the reign of elizabeth. More information about this seller contact this seller 15. Internet archive bookreader pliny s natural history.
Naturalis historia naturalis historia, 1669 edition, title page. Pliny the elder wrote the worlds first encyclopedia. No wonder, then, that an encyclopedia of natural history dating from the early roman empire was extraordinarily popular, not only in its own time but during and well after the renaissance. Pliny the elder, the natural history john bostock, m. 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. These selections from the natural history are fascinating. This extraordinary work was originally composed and. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of. The natural history which is actually a sort of encyclopedia of roman wisdom and prejudices has probably fallen out of favour because the first two books are surprisingly tedious.