De Brasi / Fronterotta Poikile Physis

Biological Literature in Greek during the Roman Empire: Genres, Scopes, and Problems
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-3-11-079685-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 12, 223 Seiten

Reihe: Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures

Biological literature of the Roman imperial period remains somehow ‘underestimated’. It is even quite difficult to speak of biological literature for this period at all: biology (apart from medicine) did not represent, indeed, a specific ‘subgenre’ of scientific literature. Nevertheless, writings as disparate as Philo of Alexandria’s Alexander, Plutarch’s De sollertia animalium or Bruta ratione uti, Aelian’s De Natura Animalium, Oppian’s Halieutika, Pseudo-Oppian’s Kynegetika, and Basil of Caeserea’s Homilies on the Creation engage with zoological, anatomic, or botanical questions. Poikile Physis examines how such writings appropriate, adapt, classify, re-elaborate and present biological knowledge which originated within the previous, mainly Aristotelian, tradition. It offers a holistic approach to these works by considering their reception of scientific material, their literary as well as rhetorical aspects, and their interaction with different socio-cultural conditions. The result of an interdisciplinary discussion among scholars of Greek studies, philosophy and history of science, the volume provides an initial analysis of forms and functions of biological literature in the imperial period.

Zielgruppe

Scholars and students in the fields of Classics, History of Scien

Autoren/Hrsg.

De Brasi, Diego

Fronterotta, Francesco

Über Autor(innen)

Diego De Brasi, University of Trier, Germany; Francesco Fronterotta, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.