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. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by pliny, the elder author. 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 natural history of pliny by pliny the elder this is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. Pliny the elders natural history, from firstcentury rome, is the most important surviving encyclopedia of the ancient world. Pliny was a compiler, a gatherer and recorder of information. His greatest and only surviving work, the natural history, has been called one of the most influential books ever written in latin pliny whose full name was gaius plinius secundus, was born at comum in the region north of the po river and was educated in rome. His nephew, pliny the younger, described how the night worker pliny organised his days so that he could write the natural history. For the original article on pliny see dsb, see vol. Jones and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. As a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in ancient rome it is unparalleled. Natural living for a happy and healthy family coffee. This extraordinary work was originally composed and.
Featured texts all books all texts latest this just in smithsonian libraries fedlink us genealogy lincoln collection. Plinys natural history is an extraordinarily important document in the history of western science. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published. Although pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in his 37volume treatise, he can be credited with. 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. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of t. The natural history of pliny, volume 6 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. His greatest and only surviving work, the natural history, has been called one of the most influential books ever written in latin. The above is a description of the world, and of the lands, races, seas, important rivers, islands and cities that it contains. This volume contains the latin text of books 2832 of natural history. Search the history of over 431 billion web pages on the internet. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by the elder pliny free ebook project gutenberg.
Like any great work in human history from plato to galileo, from dante to stephen hawkings plinys natural history is, first of all, a work of imagination. 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. 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. This is a fascinating book, yet is only a selection and a small one at that of plinys great work. While serving in this position he also found time to write his famous natural history which was published in 77. Let us pass to the rest of the animals, and first those that live on land. The natural history of pliny, volume 2 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. Sing it songbird podcast natural living for a happy and healthy family coffee with friends liberando mentes. Gaius plinius secundus ad 232479, called 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. The existence of a strong passion for portraits in former days is evidenced by atticus the friend of cicero in the volume he published on the subject and by the most benevolent invention of marcus varro.
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. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by the elder. On the ninth day before the calends of september, at about the seventh. Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived. Pliny s natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Pliny s last work, according to his nephew, was the naturalis historia literally natural history, an encyclopedia into which he collected much of the knowledge of his time. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. The natural history was one of the first ancient european texts to be printed, in venice in 1469. 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.
Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Pliny the elders natural history quotations the gold scales. The homepage for plinys natural history the historia naturalis of c. Sing it songbird podcast natural living for a happy and healthy family coffee with friends liberando mentes podcast. His natural history contained over a million words in 37 volumes pliny attempted to document all known facts about the natural world. The appendix note puts the whole thing into perspective. Minor medicinal herbs, in roughly alphabetical order. Pliny himself defines his scope as the natural world, or life. 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. The natural history of pliny by pliny and a great selection of. 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. The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence. Click on the l symbols to go to the latin text of each chapter.
Plinys is an organic work, as shakespeares crowded plays or montaignes essays are organic. Philemon hollands english translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since. Pliny the elders natural history and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. 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. This treatise on natural history, i dedicate to you, most gracious emperor titus vespasian, he writes in his dedication. Plinius secundus nouocomensis equestribus militiis industrie functus by. Pliny the elders natural history trevor murphy oxford.
The roman pliny the elder 2379 ce was a roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early roman empire, and friend of emperor vespasian. Jul 12, 2018 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. My ideal natural history would therefore be for penguin to publish all thirtyseven volumes, yet with copious footnotes so as to learn the accuracy of what pliny says and understand those things that he may have taken for granted. Utf8 start of this project gutenberg ebook natural history of pliny, vol 1 produced by turgut dincer, brian wilcox. 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 natural history vi, books xxxxiii in latin with english translation on facing pages by w. Pliny also set out to write a natural history in 37 books. In 37 books, pliny the eldernot to be confused with his nephew, pliny the. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. The zoology chapters books 8 to 11 are frequently quoted, though pliny is not always acknowledged as the. 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. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the roman empire to the modern day and.
Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. Pliny whose full name was gaius plinius secundus, was born at comum in the region north of the po river and was educated in rome. Columnarum ratio erat attolli super ceteros mortales, quod et arcus significant novicio invento. Gaius plinius secundus, 23 79 ce was a roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early roman empire, and friend of the emperor vespasian. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny. Pliny the elder wrote the worlds first encyclopedia.
Natural history pliny project gutenberg selfpublishing. 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. 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 the. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6, by pliny the elder this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the united states and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Although pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in. Delivered from our uk warehouse in 4 to 14 business days. Pliny, natural history book 33, sections 194 translated by h. His sources were personal experience, his own prior works such as the work on germania, and extracts from other works. The guinness is a compilation of isolated and insipid facts.
The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such subjects as botany, zoology, and astronomy. English translation of pliny the elder, natural history, book 35, 1100, by h. 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. He claimed to have recorded 20,000 pieces of information, although modern scholars say he underestimated his own output. He wrote the encyclopedic naturalis historia natural history, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. The table below is a summary based on modern names for topics. 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. In the year 79, still admiral of the western fleet, pliny noticed a cloud over the city of pompeii. We should have now concluded our description of the. In ad 77, pliny published his famous 37volume work naturalis historia or natural history. The elder plinys chapters on the history of art by the. Natural history, volume x, books 3637 loeb classical library.
Search the history of over 411 billion web pages on the internet. The works subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. 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. Pliny the elder was made admiral of the western roman navy. Plinys natural history, either directly or indirectly through quotes by later authors, greatly influenced the development of the bestiary and other medieval beast literature.
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