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. Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. This meticulous edition brings a complete book of the natural history within the. Pliny the elder was a roman natural philosopher who lived during the 1st century. Gaius plinius secundus 23 ad 25 august 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 spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work. This gave such a blow to the oration, that in the opinion of11 the learned. Pliny the elder naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. 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. In thirtyseven books by pliny the elder, 1847, printed for the club by g. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone.
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. He wrote the encyclopedic naturalis historia natural history, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. P l i n y t h e e l d e r s n a tu r a l h i s t or y this page intentionally left blank pliny the elders natura. 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 wrote the worlds first encyclopedia. Buy natural history penguin classics reprint by pliny the elder, john healey, john healey isbn. The british library public domain 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. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny. The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such. 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.
Links to translation of pliny the elder, natural history, by h. The eruption had just destroyed the cities of pompeii and herculaneum. He is best known for his work pliny s natural history which was in latin and explored the natural world. Pliny the elder has 277 books on goodreads with 3837 ratings. He was attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of mount vesuvius.
The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such subjects as botany, zoology, and astronomy. Book 11, insects, their physiology and habits especially bees, silkworms, spiders. Jul 12, 2018 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. In the present translation, the principal editions of. The natural history of pliny, volume 3 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. Synopsis each of the 37 38 books comprising the natural history 1 have been studied and the more important geographical facts extracted. When quoting latin and greek texts, i have used the following editions. 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. Buy the natural history of pliny on free shipping on qualified orders the natural history of pliny. 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.
Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived. An illustration of a computer application window wayback machine an illustration of an open book. Natural history page from an italian edition of natural history by pliny the elder, c. In the first two books, the text of hardouin, as given in lemaires edition paris. The division of human knowledge into different fieldsbiology, history, mathematics, medicine, and so onis a relatively new invention. Pliny the younger was born in novum comum como, northern italy around 61 ad, the son of lucius caecilius cilo, born there, and his wife plinia marcella, a sister of pliny the elder. The natural history book vii with book viii 4 latin texts by pliny the pliny the elder and tyler t. I handkeyed the latin text of pliny from the teubner edition of the text. Pliny the elders natural history is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by the elder. 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. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the natural history of pliny.
He was the grandson of senator and landowner gaius caecilius, revered his uncle, pliny the elder who at this time was extremely famous around the roman empire, and provided sketches of how his uncle worked on. His natural history contained over a million words in 37 volumes pliny attempted to document all known facts about the natural world. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of pliny, vol i. The natural history of pliny, volume 6 bohns classical library the natural history of pliny, henry thomas riley. The natural history by pliny the elder free at loyal books.
Preface pliny natural history preface plinius secundus to his dear vespasian a greeting. Pliny the elder 23 79, translated by henry thomas riley 1816 1878 naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Volume i of the natural history of gaius plinius secundus. Of the motions of the planets and the general laws. Pomponius secundus, in two books, a person by whom. Most gracious highness let this title, a supremely true one, be yours, while that of most eminent grows to old age with your sirei have resolved to recount b to you, in a somewhat presumptuous letter, the offspring of my latest travail, my volumes of natural history a novel task for the native. Pliny himself defines his scope as the natural world, or life. 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. 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. Plinius arrangierte darin traditionelles naturwissenschaftliches wissen griechischer autoren wie aristoteles. Life born into the municipal aristocracy of comum, pliny plihnee the elder followed an equestrian career. The table below is a summary based on modern names for topics.
Naturalis historia naturalis historia, 1669 edition, title page. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by pliny, the elder author. Utf8 start of this project gutenberg ebook natural history of pliny, vol 1 produced by turgut dincer, brian wilcox. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. 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. He is best known for his work plinys natural history which was in. Philemon hollands english translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since. Pliny the elder simple english wikipedia, the free. The natural history was one of the first ancient european texts to be printed, in venice in 1469. A multifaceted personality, he was also an author, naturalist, and a naval and army commander of the early roman empire. Publication date 1938 topics natural history publisher. Pliny the elders most popular book is natural history.
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 also set out to write a natural history in 37 books. Pliny the elder, the natural history john bostock, m. In this thesis i identifiy pliny the elders naturalis historia as a form of roman. The natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by the elder pliny free ebook project gutenberg. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Pliny the elder, the natural history exploring celtic. 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. Book vii of the natural history provides a detailed examination of the human animal and is. Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the. 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. They are set out in the original text order of pliny the elder, and are then sequentially analysed.
The homepage for plinys natural history the historia naturalis of c. Natural history pliny project gutenberg selfpublishing. 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. In ad 77, pliny published his famous 37volume work naturalis historia or natural history. Pliny s natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. American museum of natural history handbook series no. He was the grandson of senator and landowner gaius caecilius, revered his uncle, pliny the elder who at this time was extremely famous around the roman empire. The works subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history. Gaius plinius secundus ad 232479, called pliny the elder. Dec 09, 2015 but over the centuries these mistakes have revealed more about plinys world than the accuracies. The project gutenberg ebook of the natural history of. Links to translation of pliny the elder, natural history attalus. 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.
Pliny s natural history in thirtyseven books scholars choice edition. 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. The sources are cataloged in book 1 according to volume and cited. Pliny the elder, natural history loeb classical library. Pliny the elder s natural history is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural phenomena from cosmology to biology, medicine to magic. Pliny the elder biography facts, childhood, family life.
Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny the elder. Detail of text from book 10 on the phoenix from the 1472 edition of plinys. He claimed to have recorded 20,000 pieces of information, although modern scholars say he underestimated his own output. Pliny the elder simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Naturalis historia is an early encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. 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. This extraordinary work was originally composed and.
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