Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis
The Text
That is, it is a work about nature as tamed and understood by human investigation (historia, a Greek loan word pointing to the Greek antecedents of this genre). The “natural histories” of stones or metals, for example, are the accounts of how those materials benefit human society, especially in the refined form of public art.
Pliny’s massive work in 37 books is extracted and abridged in many manuscripts. Their texts also vary greatly in their use of Greek and in the forms and spellings of proper names. This variety cannot be explained solely as corruptions occurring in the process of copying, and reflects the ongoing active use scribes made of Pliny’s text, as they appropriated parts of the natural world for their own purposes, while appealing to the authority of Pliny.
The Manuscripts
- Bamberg Msc.Class.42 We’ll be looking at this manuscript today
- Leiden, Voss. Lat. F.4
Work at Holy Cross
Our team’s repository.
Richard and Michael will explain some of the work they’ve been doing this summer, which they’re noting on their project website.