Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of t. 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. 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. Seeing the elder plinys maniacal working habits, one starts to understand. Barclay, 184749, also by philemon holland and wernerian club page images at hathitrust pliny, the elder. Publication date 184749 topics natural history publisher london printed for the club by g. Trevor morgan murphy the most important surviving encyclopedia from the ancient world, pliny the elders natural history is unparalleled as a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in firstcentury rome. The guinness is a compilation of isolated and insipid facts. Pliny, the beer has now become one of our flagship brews. Pliny the elder was immortalized by his nephew, pliny the younger, who wrote about his uncle succumbing to ash and smoke during the eruption of mt. On our entrance into africa, we find the two mauritanias, which, until the time of caius c. The natural history, which was dedicated to titus in 77, was.
Plinys is an organic work, as shakespeares crowded plays or montaignes essays are organic. Pliny the elder pliny, the elder the online books page. On pliny the elder and the monstrous natural history of. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. 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. Its author is roman philosopher and scholar gaius plinius secundus, commonly known as pliny the elder ad 2379.
For the original article on pliny see dsb, see vol. Pliny the elder, who died during the eruption of vesuvius in 79 a. A multifaceted personality, he was also an author, naturalist, and a naval and army commander of the early roman empire. The first book is a catalogue of sources, which is followed by two. The natural history book vii with book viii 4 pliny the elders natural history is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural phenomena from cosmology to biology, medicine to magic. He is best known for his work plinys natural history which was in. Buy natural history penguin classics reprint by pliny the elder, john healey, john healey isbn.
The silurus of pliny is perhaps a species of cuviers genus schilbe, although true siluri are found in the nile. He claimed to have recorded 20,000 pieces of information, although modern scholars say he underestimated his own output. Selections from the history of the world, commonly called the natural history of c. Cheers to the scholar, historian, officer, writer, and roman naturalist pliny the elder. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, natural history naturalis historia, which became a model for many subsequent encyclopedic texts. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the.
Museums oldest natural history book now accessible online. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny, vol i. The knowledge of the great eternal having been left 30 history of nature. 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. Links to translation of pliny the elder, natural history pliny the elder, who died during the eruption of vesuvius in 79 a. Book 30, medicinal uses of animal products continued. While the monster is seldom described except for it being a large fish, there is still enough evidence to easily apply theses 5. Pliny the elder was a roman natural philosopher who lived during the 1st century. Gaius plinius secundus, commonly known as pliny the elder ad 2379. Plinys natural history, either directly or indirectly through quotes by later authors, greatly influenced the development of the bestiary and other medieval beast literature. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of. Links to translation of pliny the elder, natural history, by h. The first and thirtythird books of pliny were translated by dr. The name coracinus has been applied to more than, one fish of a sooty colour.
Pliny the elders most popular book is natural history. The zoology chapters books 8 to 11 are frequently quoted, though pliny is not always acknowledged as the. Pliny himself died while investigating the volcanic eruption that destroyed pompeii in ad 79, and the natural curiosity that brought about his death is also very much evident in the natural history a book that proved highly influential right up until the renaissance and that his nephew, pliny the younger, described as full of variety as. The homepage for plinys natural history the historia naturalis of c. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder.
Historia naturalis was one of the first manuscripts ever printed and, perhaps more importantly, the first published natural history book. Pliny was a compiler, a gatherer and recorder of information. Pliny the elder, the natural history exploring celtic. Pliny the elder ad 2379 was a roman natural philosopher who was educated in rome and came into contact with celts during his military service in germany and gaul. This edition can be found on the internet archive, with the exception of books. Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology.
Pliny the elder has 280 books on goodreads with 3768 ratings. The extreme promontory of africa, which projects into the ocean, is called ampelusia 4 by the greeks. Publication date 1938 topics natural history publisher. Search the history of over 424 billion web pages on the internet. The following is an adaptation of pliny the elder, the natural history, trans.
Pliny the elder wrote the worlds first encyclopedia. Pliny the elder simple english wikipedia, the free. Pliny devised a summarium, or list of contents, at the beginning of the work that was later interpreted by modern printers as a table of contents. Table of contents of the others and of authorities. His natural history contained over a million words in 37 volumes pliny attempted to document all known facts about the natural world. The natural history has been translated into english by h. It was published in 1469, barely 30 years after the invention of the. I ran a first proofreading pass immediately after entering each book, so that.
Featured texts all books all texts latest this just in smithsonian libraries fedlink us genealogy lincoln collection. Pliny the elder biography facts, childhood, family life. Plinys natural history is an extraordinarily important document in the history of western science. The museums library and archives has digitised its oldest book, historia. 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. The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by pliny, the elder author. Pliny the elder 2379 ce, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. Pliny the elder born gaius plinius secundus, ad 2379 was a roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early roman empire, and friend of emperor vespasian spending most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, pliny wrote the encyclopedic naturalis historia natural history, which. Plinys natural history in thirtyseven books london.