Poikile Physis

Biological Literature in Greek during the Roman Empire: Genres, Scopes, and Problems

Diego De Brasi, Francesco Fronterotta

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9783110796926
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Literary Criticism
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Poikile Physis: A Short Introduction
• A Question of Breeding? Aelian, Aristotle, And Alexander In India (NA 8.1)
• Animal Exemplarity in Imperial Greek Prose
• “A Small Mirror of Greater and Nobler Enterprises” – Ants in Greek Imperial Literature
• Biology Between Scientific Education and Ethical Paraenesis: The Physiologus
• Biology and Theology: Zoological Systematics in Basil of Caesarea’s Hexaemeron
• Aelian’s Fabulous Trees
• Galen as Phytotomist – His Study on the Fruit of Citrus Medica L.
• A Hymn to Nature: Structure, Function, Design and Beauty in Galen’s Biology
• Biological Metaphor and Cosmology The Rejection of Plato’s Artificialism by the Middle Platonists and Plotinus
• Biology and Life in Plotinus’ Philosophy
• Notes on Contributors
• References
• Person Index