Pliny the Elder
Journal Data
| Type | SOURCE_BOOK |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Brill (NL) |
| ISBN-13 | 9789004202344 |
| Open Library | OL15976924W |
| Total publications | 17 |
| Coverage period | 2011 - 2011 |
| Language | EN |
| Cited by | 15 |
| h-index | 1 |
| i10-index | 1 |
Pliny's Naturalis Historia – a brilliant and sophisticated encyclopaedia of the scientific, artistic, philosophical, botanical and zoological riches of the ancient world – has had a long career in the footnotes of historical studies. This is a phenomenon born of the sense that the work was there to consult, or to ‘use’, as a resource to aid investigation of specific technical issues or passages, of Quellenforschung, or of delimited topic areas. The contributors to the present volume both represent and join a new generation of critics who have begun to try to ‘read’ this monumental text, and – by examining the dominant motifs which give shape and order to the work – to construct frameworks within which we may understand and interpret Pliny’s overarching agenda
Chapter Seven. The Science And Aesthetics Of Names In The Natural History
The Natural History is filled with names of animals, plants, minerals, places and people, some familiar, others unknown to all but the most expert of specialist readers. A great deal of scholarship over the years has depended on the correct identification of the things named in Pliny's text, and Pliny's importance to the practice of medicine in the West made the correct interpretation of Pliny's names a pressing problem for scholars well into the…
Chapter Two. The Roman’s Burden
As Gibbon once famously remarked, the surprising thing about the Roman Empire is not its fall, but rather its remarkable longevity. This very durability may well have led to the comparative silence that we find in our contemporary sources concerning the nature and intentions of Roman Imperialism as those living under the Empire in the main simply took Roman rule for granted: it was assumed to be an unchanging and unchangeable constant of their li…
Index Of Passages
Chapter Four. Imperialism, Mirabilia, And Knowledge
As an inquiry into nature, the Naturalis Historia is a work of knowledge and on knowledge. As a work written by a servant of the Roman emperor, it is also influenced by an imperialistic perspective. At the time of its composition, Roman culture manifested a strong interest in all kinds of mirabilia. In the Naturalis Historia, imperialism, knowledge and mirabilia share complex links, and this paper aims at clarifying some of them. Imperialism has …
General Index
Chapter Nine. Pliny And The Encyclopaedic Addressee
This chapter seeks to re-consider the features of Pliny's Preface, and it will argue that the humorous paradoxes in Pliny's approach to Titus, together with his apparent modesty about the HN itself, should be read as a sophisticated exercise in defining a problematic addressee and then turning him into the reader Pliny wants him to be. The opening epistle takes an encyclopaedic approach, both to the predecessors and models whom Pliny lists, incor…
Preliminary Material
Chapter Six. Philosophy And Science In The Elder Pliny’s Naturalis Historia
This chapter discusses the natures, functions and mutual relationships of philosophy and science in Pliny, and shows that such an analysis offers a more accurate understanding not only of specific passages, but also of some of the general motivations underpinning his narrative. The author compares the analysis with the interpretations given by commentators on specific passages, as well as with their general attitude towards Pliny. The chapter exa…
Pliny the Elder
Chapter Ten. Encyclopaedic Exemplarity In Pliny The Elder
Enquire Within Upon Everything : not the Elder Pliny's motto, but the tempting title of a Victorian best-seller. Here, home hints jostle with legal advice; fascinating facts are side by side with handy directions. Information and anecdote, precept and practical instruction cluster in a mass: organisation is not wholly lacking, but the work's charm lies largely in its odd juxtapositions. Digression, antithesis and swift transitions from one classi…
Chapter Twelve. The Vita Plinii
From the editio princeps until well into the 16th century, editions of Pliny's Natural history opened with a life of the author ascribed to Suetonius. The Vita Plinii , one of just six fragments in either class that concern historians, is the only fragment explicitly attributed to De viris illustribus the only biographical fragment of the work not edited since Roth and Reifferscheid. As both Roth and Reifferscheid knew of several manuscripts that…
Chapter Eight,. Pliny On Apion
Apion was a first century success story. Apion contributed to the Homeric scholarship of his day, producing a Glossary of Homeric Expressions and lecturing widely on Homeric topics; indeed according to Seneca Apion toured Greece during Caligula's principate and 'everywhere had Homer's name joined to his'. Apion's work survives in fragments only, but what we know about his reputation in antiquity suggests that his approach to scholarly endeavor as…
Chapter Three. Luxury And The Creation Of A Good Consumer
In this chapter, the author reconsiders the Natural History's dealings with luxury by taking into account themonetized status of knowledge in the text. The author suggests that the interest Pliny takes in luxury is motivated by a desire to demonstrate financial ethics and to produce such ethical behavior among the lapsed members of society. His relationship to luxury is not simply a matter of voicing criticism. He does this by sharing practical i…
Chapter Eleven. Elder And Better
This chapter looks at the early reception of the Natural History in the Letters of Pliny's nephew and adopted son, and tackles two main issues. First, the author offers evidence against the assumption that the Younger Pliny cared little about or had scant knowledge of the actual contents of the Natural History and, more importantly, argues that the Younger expected his readers to be familiar with the text of that work. Secondly, the author looks …
Chapter One. Pliny The Elder’s Attitude To Warfare
This chapter argues that in the Natural History, Pliny goes on the offensive, acknowledging and celebrating the advantages of an era of peace, but at the same time reinforcing warfare's contribution over the centuries to Rome's current prosperity and global domination. This is not to say that his stance conflicts with the prevailing imperial ideology: indeed, Vespasian and Titus were successful generals, who would have been interested in military…
Chapter Five. The Curious Eye Of The Elder Pliny
Curiosity, both in classical antiquity and later, had ambiguous connotations. In investigating the world around them, ancient philosophers, including Seneca, tended to advocate the investigation of celestial over terrestrial matters as the road to philosophical fulfilment. Pliny's focus in his 'Natural History' is, however, on the latter. This paper explores the nuances of this terrestrial curiosity, focussing in particular on the extent to which…
Pliny the Elder
Pliny's Naturalis Historia – a brilliant and sophisticated encyclopaedia of the scientific, artistic, philosophical, botanical and zoological riches of the ancient world – has had a long career in the footnotes of historical studies. This is a phenomenon born of the sense that the work was there to consult, or to ‘use’, as a resource to aid investigation of specific technical issues or passages, of Quellenforschung, or of delimited topic areas. T…
Pliny the Elder
Pliny's Naturalis Historia – a brilliant and sophisticated encyclopaedia of the scientific, artistic, philosophical, botanical and zoological riches of the ancient world – has had a long career in the footnotes of historical studies. This is a phenomenon born of the sense that the work was there to consult, or to ‘use’, as a resource to aid investigation of specific technical issues or passages, of Quellenforschung, or of delimited topic areas. T…
Chapter Seven. The Science And Aesthetics Of Names In The Natural History
The Natural History is filled with names of animals, plants, minerals, places and people, some familiar, others unknown to all but the most expert of specialist readers. A great deal of scholarship over the years has depended on the correct identification of the things named in Pliny's text, and Pliny's importance to the practice of medicine in the West made the correct interpretation of Pliny's names a pressing problem for scholars well into the…
Chapter Two. The Roman’s Burden
As Gibbon once famously remarked, the surprising thing about the Roman Empire is not its fall, but rather its remarkable longevity. This very durability may well have led to the comparative silence that we find in our contemporary sources concerning the nature and intentions of Roman Imperialism as those living under the Empire in the main simply took Roman rule for granted: it was assumed to be an unchanging and unchangeable constant of their li…
Index Of Passages
Chapter Four. Imperialism, Mirabilia, And Knowledge
As an inquiry into nature, the Naturalis Historia is a work of knowledge and on knowledge. As a work written by a servant of the Roman emperor, it is also influenced by an imperialistic perspective. At the time of its composition, Roman culture manifested a strong interest in all kinds of mirabilia. In the Naturalis Historia, imperialism, knowledge and mirabilia share complex links, and this paper aims at clarifying some of them. Imperialism has …
General Index
Chapter Nine. Pliny And The Encyclopaedic Addressee
This chapter seeks to re-consider the features of Pliny's Preface, and it will argue that the humorous paradoxes in Pliny's approach to Titus, together with his apparent modesty about the HN itself, should be read as a sophisticated exercise in defining a problematic addressee and then turning him into the reader Pliny wants him to be. The opening epistle takes an encyclopaedic approach, both to the predecessors and models whom Pliny lists, incor…
Preliminary Material
Chapter Six. Philosophy And Science In The Elder Pliny’s Naturalis Historia
This chapter discusses the natures, functions and mutual relationships of philosophy and science in Pliny, and shows that such an analysis offers a more accurate understanding not only of specific passages, but also of some of the general motivations underpinning his narrative. The author compares the analysis with the interpretations given by commentators on specific passages, as well as with their general attitude towards Pliny. The chapter exa…
Pliny the Elder
Chapter Ten. Encyclopaedic Exemplarity In Pliny The Elder
Enquire Within Upon Everything : not the Elder Pliny's motto, but the tempting title of a Victorian best-seller. Here, home hints jostle with legal advice; fascinating facts are side by side with handy directions. Information and anecdote, precept and practical instruction cluster in a mass: organisation is not wholly lacking, but the work's charm lies largely in its odd juxtapositions. Digression, antithesis and swift transitions from one classi…
Chapter Twelve. The Vita Plinii
From the editio princeps until well into the 16th century, editions of Pliny's Natural history opened with a life of the author ascribed to Suetonius. The Vita Plinii , one of just six fragments in either class that concern historians, is the only fragment explicitly attributed to De viris illustribus the only biographical fragment of the work not edited since Roth and Reifferscheid. As both Roth and Reifferscheid knew of several manuscripts that…
Chapter Eight,. Pliny On Apion
Apion was a first century success story. Apion contributed to the Homeric scholarship of his day, producing a Glossary of Homeric Expressions and lecturing widely on Homeric topics; indeed according to Seneca Apion toured Greece during Caligula's principate and 'everywhere had Homer's name joined to his'. Apion's work survives in fragments only, but what we know about his reputation in antiquity suggests that his approach to scholarly endeavor as…
Chapter Three. Luxury And The Creation Of A Good Consumer
In this chapter, the author reconsiders the Natural History's dealings with luxury by taking into account themonetized status of knowledge in the text. The author suggests that the interest Pliny takes in luxury is motivated by a desire to demonstrate financial ethics and to produce such ethical behavior among the lapsed members of society. His relationship to luxury is not simply a matter of voicing criticism. He does this by sharing practical i…
Chapter Eleven. Elder And Better
This chapter looks at the early reception of the Natural History in the Letters of Pliny's nephew and adopted son, and tackles two main issues. First, the author offers evidence against the assumption that the Younger Pliny cared little about or had scant knowledge of the actual contents of the Natural History and, more importantly, argues that the Younger expected his readers to be familiar with the text of that work. Secondly, the author looks …
Chapter One. Pliny The Elder’s Attitude To Warfare
This chapter argues that in the Natural History, Pliny goes on the offensive, acknowledging and celebrating the advantages of an era of peace, but at the same time reinforcing warfare's contribution over the centuries to Rome's current prosperity and global domination. This is not to say that his stance conflicts with the prevailing imperial ideology: indeed, Vespasian and Titus were successful generals, who would have been interested in military…
Chapter Five. The Curious Eye Of The Elder Pliny
Curiosity, both in classical antiquity and later, had ambiguous connotations. In investigating the world around them, ancient philosophers, including Seneca, tended to advocate the investigation of celestial over terrestrial matters as the road to philosophical fulfilment. Pliny's focus in his 'Natural History' is, however, on the latter. This paper explores the nuances of this terrestrial curiosity, focussing in particular on the extent to which…
Pliny the Elder
Pliny's Naturalis Historia – a brilliant and sophisticated encyclopaedia of the scientific, artistic, philosophical, botanical and zoological riches of the ancient world – has had a long career in the footnotes of historical studies. This is a phenomenon born of the sense that the work was there to consult, or to ‘use’, as a resource to aid investigation of specific technical issues or passages, of Quellenforschung, or of delimited topic areas. T…