American museum of natural history handbook series no. This is in the form of a covering letter from pliny, to accompany the gift of his treatise on natural history to his friend vespasian caesar i. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Covid19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation. Het boek is een aantal malen in het nederlands vertaald, voor het eerst in 1610. Pomponius secundus, in two books, a person by whom he had been. Roman officer and encyclopedist, author of the natural history.
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 natural history of pliny, volume 1 of 6 by the elder pliny free. Dec 20, 2016 its author is roman philosopher and scholar gaius plinius secundus, commonly known as pliny the elder ad 2379. Pliny, the elder h rackham pliny, the elder, gaius plinius secundus ad 2379, a roman of equestrian rank of transpadane gaul n.
Its frequent digressions into issues of morality and gossipy, occasionally rambling style would certainly not be at home in a modern encyclopedia, but its allencompassing scope covering botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, and medicine among other. Search the history of over 424 billion web pages on the internet. 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. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Plinius secundus nouocomensis equestribus militiis industrie functus. This is a fascinating book, yet is only a selection and a small one at that of plinys great work. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page.
Plinys historia naturalis natural history is a vast encyclopaedic work and the only book by him to have survived. 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. Gaius plinius secundus ad 232479, called pliny the elder. When birds lay and how many eggs the various kinds of herons ib 80 what eggs are called bypenem1a and what cynosura flow eggs ars best kept.
He wrote the encyclopedic naturalis historia natural history, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. Natural history encyclopedic scientific work by pliny the. It is very broad in scope and includes all sorts of facts, observations and myths. Plinys natural history was the goto encyclopedia for over 1,500 years, from its publication around the year 77 until well into the renaissance. Pliny the elder has 280 books on goodreads with 3768 ratings. Museums oldest natural history book now accessible online. 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. Selections from the history of the world, commonly called the natural history of c. 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 his material. The natural history was one of the first ancient european texts to be printed, in venice in 1469. Pliny the elder, who died during the eruption of vesuvius in 79 a.
Pliny the elder simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I ran a first proofreading pass immediately after entering each book, so that the text of all the books is quite good already. Plinius verzamelde niet alleen, hij leverde vaak ook commentaar. Boek maken downloaden als pdf printvriendelijke versie. Hese books, containing the history of nature, which a few days since i. The natural history of pliny volume 6 uniform titles. 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.
Feb 12, 2019 contents of plinys natural history divided into thirtyseven books preface. The rest of the cities to be named in achaea, aliphiraei, albeatae, pyrgerises, pareatse, paragenitiae, tortuni, typansei, thryasii, trittenses. This extraordinary work was originally composed and written in classical latin around ad 70, and was divided into thirtyseven books. Links to translation of pliny the elder, natural history. Dive deep into gaius plinius secundus pliny the elder with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. Natural history pliny project gutenberg selfpublishing. Letters of marcus tullius cicero and letters of gaius plinius caecilius secundus by cicero, marcus tullius and secundus, gaius plinius caecilius and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The work, which was largely complete by 77 ce, is divided into 37 books and covers such subjects as botany, zoology, and astronomy. Plinys natural history in thirtyseven books london. He served as cavalry officer in germany and governor procurator in spain, and at the.
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. 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. 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. Naturalis historia is an early encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder 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. 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. 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 elders most popular book is natural history. 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. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. 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. Barclay, 184749, also by philemon holland and wernerian club page images at hathitrust pliny, the elder. Historical traditions at wells, 1464, 1470, 1497 pdf. Historia naturalis was one of the first manuscripts ever printed and, perhaps more importantly, the first published natural history book.
The natural history of pliny volume 6 digital collections. Buy natural history penguin classics reprint by pliny the elder, john healey, john healey isbn. For centuries the natural history served as the western worlds primary source of scientific information and theory. Pliny the elder, tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic natural history, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of roman knowledge. Naturalis historia latin for natural history is an encyclopedia published circa ad 7779 by pliny the elder. Plinys natural history is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Pliny the elders full name was gaius plinius secundus.
His nephew pliny the younger gives an indication how devoted his uncle was to reading and studying, which was like working to him. Pliny the elder pliny, the elder the online books page. Direct observation, informed speculation and common knowledge are combined to present a key snapshot of ancient thought and the romans. The natural history of pliny digital collections national library of. Philemon hollands english translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since.