Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance

620 Pages·2013·4.82 MB·English

by  Dr Jason König

EncyclopaedismfromAntiquitytotheRenaissance
Thereisarichbodyofencyclopaedicwritingfromthetwomillennia
beforetheEnlightenment.Thisbookshedsnewlightonthismaterial.
Ittracesthedevelopmentoftraditionsofknowledge-orderingwhich
stretched back to Pliny and Varro and others in the classical world.
It works with a broad concept of encyclopaedism, resisting the idea
thattherewasanyclearpre-moderngenreofthe‘encyclopaedia’,and
showing instead how the rhetoric and techniques of comprehensive
compilationlefttheirmarkonasurprisingrangeoftexts.Intheprocess
itdrawsattentiontobothremarkablesimilaritiesandstrikingdiffer-
encesbetweenconventionsofencyclopaediccompilationindifferent
periods.ThefocusisprimarilyonEuropean/Mediterraneanculture.
Thebookcoversclassical,medieval(includingByzantineandArabic)
andRenaissancecultureinturn,andcombineschapterswhichsurvey
wholeperiodswithothersfocusedcloselyonindividualtextsascase
studies.
jason ko¨nig is Senior Lecturer in Greek at the University of
St Andrews. He works broadly on the Greek literature and culture
of the Roman empire. He is author ofAthletics and Literature in the
RomanEmpire(Cambridge,2005)andSaintsandSymposiasts:TheLit-
eratureofFoodandtheSymposiuminGreco-RomanandEarlyChristian
Culture(Cambridge,2012),andeditor,jointlywithTimWhitmarsh,
ofOrderingKnowledgeintheRomanEmpire(Cambridge,2007).
greg woolf is Professor of Ancient History at the University of
StAndrews.HisbooksincludeBecomingRoman:TheOriginsofProvin-
cialCivilizationinGaul(Cambridge,1998);EttuBrute:TheMurder
ofJuliusCaesarandPoliticalAssassination(2006);TalesoftheBarbar-
ians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011); and Rome:
AnEmpire’sStory(2012).Hehasalsoeditedvolumesonliteracy,on
thecityofRomeandonRomanreligionandhaspublishedwidelyon
ancienthistoryandRomanarchaeology.

Encyclopaedism from Antiquity
to the Renaissance
Editedby jason ko¨nig and greg woolf
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107038233
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
EncyclopaedismfromantiquitytotheRenaissance/editedbyJasonKo¨nig,GregWoolf.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-03823-3(hardback)
1.Encyclopediasanddictionaries–Historyandcriticism. 2.Encyclopedists. 3.Learning
andscholarship–History–To1500. 4.Learningandscholarship–History–16thcentury.
5.Learningandscholarship–History–17thcentury. 6.Civilization,Ancient. 7.Civilization,
Medieval. 8.Renaissance. I.Ko¨nig,Jason,author,editorofcompilation. II.Woolf,Greg,
author,editorofcompilation. III.Title:EncyclopedismfromantiquitytotheRenaissance.
AE1.E46 2013
031.09–dc23 2013016800
ISBN978-1-107-03823-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listofillustrations [pageviii]
Listofabbreviations [ix]
Notesoncontributors [x]
Preface [xv]
1 Introduction [1]
jason ko¨nig and greg woolf
part i. classical encyclopaedism
2 EncyclopaedismintheRomanempire [23]
jason ko¨nig and greg woolf
3 EncyclopaedismintheAlexandrianlibrary [64]
myrto hatzimichali
4 Laboresprobonopublico:theburdensomemissionofPliny’s
NaturalHistory [84]
mary beagon
5 Encyclopaediasofvirtue?Collectionsofsayingsandstoriesabout
wisemeninGreek [108]
teresa morgan
6 Plutarch’scorpusofquaestionesinthetraditionofimperialGreek
encyclopaedism [129]
katerina oikonomopoulou
7 Artemidorus’Oneirocriticaasfragmentaryencyclopaedia [154]
daniel harris-m coy
c
8 Encyclopaediasandautocracy:Justinian’sEncyclopaediaof
Romanlaw [178]
jill harries
v
vi Contents
9 LateLatinencyclopaedism:towardsanewparadigm
ofpracticalknowledge [197]
marco formisano
part ii. medieval encyclopaedism
10 Byzantineencyclopaedismoftheninthandtenthcenturies [219]
paul magdalino
11 TheimperialsystematisationofthepastinConstantinople:
ConstantineVIIandhisHistoricalExcerpts [232]
andra´s ne´meth
12 AdmaioremDeigloriam:JosephRhakendyte`s’synopsisof
Byzantinelearning [259]
erika gielen
13 Shiftinghorizons:themedievalcompilationofknowledgeas
mirrorofachangingworld [277]
elizabeth keen
14 Isidore’sEtymologies:onwordsandthings [301]
andy merrills
15 Loosegiblets:encyclopaedicsensibilitiesofordinatioand
compilatioinlatermedievalEnglishliterarycultureandthesad
caseofReginaldPecock [325]
ian johnson
16 WhywasthefourteenthcenturyacenturyofArabic
encyclopaedism? [343]
elias muhanna
17 Openingupaworldofknowledge:Mamlukencyclopaediasand
theirreaders [357]
maaike van berkel
part iii. renaissance encyclopaedism
18 RevisitingRenaissanceencyclopaedism [379]
ann blair
Contents vii
19 PhilosophyandtheRenaissanceencyclopaedia:
someobservations [398]
daniel andersson
20 Reading‘Pliny’sape’intheRenaissance:thePolyhistorofCaius
JuliusSolinusinthefirstcenturyofprint [414]
paul dover
21 Shakespeare’sencyclopaedias [444]
neil rhodes
22 BigDig:Dugdale’sdrainageandthedregsofEngland [461]
claire preston
23 Ironyandencyclopaedicwritingbefore(andafter)the
Enlightenment [482]
william n. west
part iv. chinese encyclopaedism: a postscript
24 Thepassiontocollect,select,andprotect:fifteenhundredyearsof
theChineseencyclopaedia [505]
harriet t. zurndorfer
Bibliography [529]
Index [589]
Illustrations
1 Openingillustrationforthechapter‘Delparadisterrestri’,fromVivaldo
Belcalzar’sabridgedItaliantranslationofBartholomaeusAnglicus’De
proprietatibusrerum,1309(BritishLibrarymsAdditional8785,fol.
190v). [page296]
2 FrontispiecetoGregorReisch’sMargaritaphilosophica,2ndedition,
1554(Freiburg?:JohannesSchottus)(UniversityofIowaJohnMartin
RareBookRoom,HardinLibraryfortheHealthSciences). [404]
3 WilliamDugdale,HistoryofImbankingandDrayningofDiversFenns
andMarshes,1662(London:AliceWarren)p.120(HenryE.
HuntingtonLibraryandArtGallery). [476]
viii