Olmos, Paula (Author)
This paper aims to offer a new perspective on two fifth-century texts: Martianus Capella's De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii and Macrobius' Saturnalia. Both were transmitted and received throughout the Middle Ages as methodical sources containing an account of the ancient sciences and disciplines, and highly criticised in modern times for their supposedly poor level of scientific knowledge. Setting aside the recent focus on the Neoplatonic ascription of some of their content, I claim that these texts still contribute to a traditional educational ideal. They put forward a kind of amateur, dilettantish encyclopaedic lore as the appropriate `further education' for young Latin men of the higher class that would allow them to acquire material for excellence in discourse within the framework of a basically rhetorical education. With their literary sophistication and informal approach, they also illustrate the means of acquiring this broader knowledge in a non-professional way, by individual reading/listening and excerpting, as something distinct from the formal schooling available in grammar and rhetoric. Such an approach could help us to avoid the still rather widespread and sometimes undeservedly excessive criticism of the level of their `science' and, especially, blaming this dubious characteristic on the prejudiced assumption of the decline of science in the `obscure times' of Late Antiquity.
...MoreArticle Doody, Aude; Föllinger, Sabine; Taub, Liba (2012) Structures and Strategies in Ancient Greek and Roman Technical Writing: An Introduction. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (p. 233).
Article
Ayuso García, Manuel;
(2006)
Evolución del término punctum en los textos latinos de geometría
(/isis/citation/CBB001023866/)
Article
Lautner, Peter;
(2009)
Different Types of Λογοι and their Place in Empirical Knowledge and Noetic Understanding in Syrianus
(/isis/citation/CBB001211441/)
Article
Fleming, Robin;
(2012)
Recycling in Britain after the Fall of Rome's Metal Economy
(/isis/citation/CBB001200332/)
Article
Gibson, Craig A.;
(2013)
Doctors in Ancient Greek and Roman Rhetorical Education
(/isis/citation/CBB001214561/)
Article
Doody, Aude;
Föllinger, Sabine;
Taub, Liba;
(2012)
Structures and Strategies in Ancient Greek and Roman Technical Writing: An Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB001221679/)
Article
Christián C. Carman;
(2017)
Martianus Capella’s Calculation of the Size of the Moon
(/isis/citation/CBB369881631/)
Book
Murphy, Trevor;
(2004)
Pliny the Elder's Natural History: The Empire in the Encyclopedia
(/isis/citation/CBB000741063/)
Article
Doody, Aude;
(2009)
Pliny's Natural History: Enkuklios Paideia and the Ancient Encyclopedia
(/isis/citation/CBB001030598/)
Book
Doody, Aude;
(2010)
Pliny's Encyclopedia: The Reception of the Natural History
(/isis/citation/CBB001033263/)
Chapter
Henderson, John;
(2007)
The Creation of Isidore's Etymologies or Origins
(/isis/citation/CBB001036024/)
Book
Liba Taub;
(2017)
Science Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity
(/isis/citation/CBB578065735/)
Book
Palmieri, Nicoletta;
(2008)
L'Ars medica (Tegni) de Galien: lectures et interprétations depuis la fin de l'Antiquité jusqu'aux Universités médiévales
(/isis/citation/CBB001021705/)
Book
Green, Steven J.;
Volk, Katharina;
(2011)
Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius' Astronomica
(/isis/citation/CBB001201025/)
Chapter
Green, Steven J.;
(2011)
Arduum ad astra: The Poetics and Politics of Horoscopic Failure in Manilius' Astronomica
(/isis/citation/CBB001201031/)
Essay Review
Riley, Mark;
(2013)
[Essay review]
(/isis/citation/CBB001566541/)
Book
Maria Luisa Delvigo;
(2011)
Servio e la poesia della scienza
(/isis/citation/CBB928776966/)
Article
Haase, Fee-Alexandra;
(2002)
Ars critica: Der Rhetorlehrer Quintilian als Vorbild für Begriffe und Aufgaben von Kritik in neulateinischen Reden und Schriften Deutschlands im 18. Jahrhundert
(/isis/citation/CBB000201113/)
Article
Gabriele Marasco;
(2012)
L'assistenza ai malati e la nascita del personale paramedico nella tarda antichità
(/isis/citation/CBB683830422/)
Book
Nicolaides, Demetris;
(2014)
In the Light of Science: Our Ancient Quest for Knowledge and the Measure of Modern Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB001510106/)
Book
Domninus, Larissaeus;
Riedlberger, Peter;
(2013)
Encheiridion and Spurious Works
(/isis/citation/CBB001551908/)
Be the first to comment!