Research Catalog

On the characteristics of animals

Title
On the characteristics of animals / Aelian ; with an English translation by A.F. Scholfield.
Author
Aelian, active 3rd century
Publication
  • Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1958-1959.
  • United States of America : Edwards Brothers, [date of manufacture not identified].
  • ©1958-1959

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

3 Items

StatusVol/DateFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

v. 3TextNo restrictions *R-RMRR PA3611 .A35 v. 3Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 - Reference

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

v. 2TextNo restrictions *R-RMRR PA3611 .A35 v. 2Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 - Reference

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

v. 1TextNo restrictions *R-RMRR PA3611 .A35 v. 1Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 - Reference

Details

Additional Authors
Scholfield, A. F. (Alwyn Faber), 1884-
Description
3 volumes, (xxix, 359; 413; 445 pages); 17 cm
Summary
AELIAN (Claudius Aelianus), a Roman born c. A.D. 170 at Praeneste (where he held a religious office), was a pupil of the rhetorician Pausanias of Caesarea, and taught and practised rhetoric. Expert in good Attic Greek, he became a serious scholar and studied history under the patronage of the Roman Empress Julia Domna. He apparently spent all his life in Italy where he died after A.D. 230. In three volumes we present his On the Characteristics of Animals, in 17 books, which is a mixed collection of facts and beliefs concerning the habits of animals taken from Greek authors with some personal observation, and having as their chief object entertainment. Fact, fancy, legend, stories and gossip all play their part in a narrative which has, of set purpose, no arrangement. If there is any ethical motive, it is that the virtues of untaught yet reasoning animals can be a lesson to thoughtless and selfish mankind. Aelian's philosophy is an easy stoicism. Another surviving work is 'Varied History' in 14 books, consisting mainly of historical, biographical, and antiquarian anecdotes and short narratives, many of them taken from authors whose works are lost. Here also Aelian follows no scheme of arrangement. We have also fragments of a work on 'Providence' and one on 'Divine Manifestations' and these also were apparently collections of stories. Some Letters, by fictitious persons, on husbandry and other country matters survive -- these are rhetorical.
Series Statement
Loeb classical library ; no. 446, 448-449
Uniform Title
Loeb classical library ; no. 446, 448-449.
Alternative Title
On animals
Subjects
Genre/Form
Early works.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Language (note)
  • Greek and English on opposite pages.
Contents
Volume I. Books 1-5 -- volume II. Books 6-11 -- volume III. Books 12-17.
Call Number
PA3611
ISBN
  • 0674994914
  • 9780674994911
  • 0674994930
  • 9780674994935
  • 0674994949
  • 9780674994942
OCLC
906034593
Author
Aelian, active 3rd century, author.
Title
On the characteristics of animals / Aelian ; with an English translation by A.F. Scholfield.
Publisher
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1958-1959.
Manufacturer
United States of America : Edwards Brothers, [date of manufacture not identified].
Copyright Date
©1958-1959
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
Loeb classical library ; no. 446, 448-449
Loeb classical library ; no. 446, 448-449.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Language
Greek and English on opposite pages.
Added Author
Scholfield, A. F. (Alwyn Faber), 1884- translator.
Spine Title
On animals
Research Call Number
*R-RMRR PA3611 .A35
View in Legacy Catalog