Pliny the Elder on Science and Technology

by John F. Healy

Overview

The Elder Pliny's Natural History greatly influenced the content and character of subsequent technical literature. He has received little attention since the 1920s and this book is an overdue reassessment of Pliny's ideas and his text. Pliny had to adapt Latin and Greek to his scientific theories and this has rendered parts of his text ambiguous. Healy includes a detailed study of the technical language and also modern experiments simulating Pliny's techniques.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198146872
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	02/28/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)

Table of Contents

Abbreviations		xiii
Pliny's Life and Career		1	(30)
Pliny the Writer		31	(5)
The Natural History		36	(6)
Pliny's Sources		42	(21)
Mirabilia		63	(8)
Pliny and Research		71	(8)
Language and Style		79	(21)
Science in Antiquity		100	(6)
The Natural History and Technical Literature		106	(7)
Science in The Natural History		113	(2)
Chemistry		115	(27)
Appendices A: Niello		137	(5)
Dyes and Dyeing		138	(4)
Physics		142	(31)
Appendix From Observer to Horizon		171	(2)
Earth Sciences		173	(17)
Minerals		190	(69)
Appendices A: Amber		250	(9)
Hydrocarbons		254	(3)
Meteorites		257	(2)
Minerals as Pigments		259	(4)
Gems and Precious Stones		263	(8)
Metals		271	(76)
Technology		347	(24)
Pliny and the Environment		371	(9)
The Natural History in the Middle Ages and After		380	(13)
Select Bibliography		393	(19)
Index Locorum		412	(19)
General Index		431