Science writing in Greco-Roman antiquity

209 Pages·2017·0.77 MB·English

by  Taub

SCIENCE WRITING IN GRECO- ROMAN
ANTIQUITY
We access Greek and Roman scientifi c ideas mainly through those
texts which happen to survive. By concentrating only on the ideas
conveyed, we may limit our understanding of the meaning of those
ideas in their historical context. Th rough considering the diverse
ways in which scientifi c ideas were communicated, in diff erent types
of texts, we can uncover otherwise hidden meanings and more fully
comprehend the historical contexts in which those ideas were pro-
duced and shared, the aims of the authors and the expectations of
ancient readers. Professor Taub explores the rich variety of formats
used to discuss scientifi c, mathematical and technical subjects, from
ca . 700 BCE to the sixth century CE. Each chapter concentrates on
a particular genre – poetry, letter, encyclopaedia, commentary and
biography – off ering an introduction to Greek and Roman scientifi c
ideas, while using a selection of ancient writings to focus on the ways
in which we encounter them.
Liba Taub is Director and Curator of the Whipple Museum and
Head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the
University of Cambridge; she is also a Fellow of Newnham College.
She was awarded an Einstein Foundation Visiting Fellowship to
work with the Topoi Excellence Cluster (Berlin), and was the recipi-
ent of the Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize of the History of Science
Society and a University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for excel-
lence in teaching. She is the author of P tolemy's Universe: Th e Natural
Philosophical and Ethical Foundations of Ptolemy's Astronomy (1993),
Ancient Meteorology (2003), and A etna and the Moon: Explaining
Nature in Ancient Greece and Rome (2008).
KEY THEMES IN ANCIENT HISTORY
EDITORS
P.A. Cartledge
Clare College, Cambridge
P.D.A. Garnsey
Jesus College, Cambridge
Key Th emes in Ancient History aims to provide readable, informed and origi-
nal studies of various basic topics, designed in the fi rst instance for students and
teachers of classics and ancient history, but also for those engaged in related dis-
ciplines. Each volume is devoted to a general theme in Greek, Roman or, where
appropriate, Graeco- Roman history, or to some salient aspect or aspects of it.
Besides indicating the state of current research in the relevant area, authors seek
to show how the theme is signifi cant for our own as well as ancient culture and
society. It is hoped that these original, thematic volumes will encourage and stim-
ulate promising new developments in teaching and research in ancient history.
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SCIENCE WRITING
IN GRECO - ROMAN
ANTIQUITY
LIBA TAUB
University of Cambridge
University Printing House, Cambridge CB 2 8 BS , United Kingdom
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title:  www.cambridge.org/ 9780521130639
DOI: 10.1017/ 9781139030762
© Liba Taub 2017
Th is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2017
Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays Ltd.
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library .
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Taub, Liba Chaia, 1954–
Title: Science writing in Greco- Roman antiquity / Liba Taub, University of Cambridge.
Description: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. |
Series: Key themes in ancient history |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016049752 | ISBN 9780521113700 (hard back) |
ISBN 9780521130639 (paper back)
Subjects: LCSH: Scientifi c literature – History – To 1500. |
Technical writing – History – To 1500. | Science, Ancient.
Classifi cation: LCC Q 225.5. T 38 2017 | DDC 509.38– dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2016049752
ISBN 978- 0- 521- 11370- 0 Hardback
ISBN 978- 0- 521- 13063- 9 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of U RL s
for external or third- party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not
guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List of Illustrations page viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Spelling and Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1 Poetry 22
2 Letter 50
3 Encyclopaedia 72
4 Commentary 86
5 Biography 111
Conclusion 130
Appendix A: Arithmetical Epigrams from Book 14
of Th e Greek Anthology 135
Appendix B: Eratosthenes’ Letter to King Ptolemy 144
Bibliographical Essay 149
References 157
Index 181
vii
Illustrations
4.1 Lettered diagram based on the description given
by Aristotle in his Meteorology 363a34- b7. (Th e version
here is an emendation of that provided by Lee 1952 : 187.) page 104
4.2 Lettered diagram depicting Philoponus’ description
of ants tracking a path, following Kupreeva 2012 :
fi gure 1, p. 48. 107
A.1 Diagrams based on Cohen and Drabkin 1948 : 64,
to accompany Eratosthenes’ L etter to King Ptolemy . 145
viii
Preface
W hat we today call ‘science’ has often been described as a Greek i nvention,
even though some historians of science would now argue against this,
pointing instead to Mesopotamia as the birthplace of scientifi c and math-
ematical practices. Nevertheless, a number of distinguished ancient Greek
and Roman thinkers held the view that certain types of explanation had
originated in ancient Greece. Aristotle himself (384– 322 BCE) credited
Th ales of Miletus (fl . 586 BCE) with having been the fi rst to aim at under-
standing the original causes of world; in Book 1 (A) of the Metaphysics ,
Aristotle off ered a history of explaining the origin of the world, its causes
and its composition, naming particular specifi c individuals and their ideas.
Th is approach to telling the history of scientifi c thinking – providing an
intellectual history concentrating on great individuals and the concepts
associated with them – has had a long and fruitful history.
Whilst writing my book A ncient Meteorology, I became particularly
interested in the ways in which ancient Greek and Roman authors writ-
ing on meteorological topics chose to communicate. My study of Greco-
Roman works dealing with meteorological phenomena alerted me to the
diversity of genres and types of texts used by ancient authors to commu-
nicate their ideas and methods for explaining and predicting weather phe-
nomena, texts which include poetry, astrometeorological calendars (known
as parapēgmata ), natural philosophical prose works, letters, question-a nd-
answer texts and commentaries, as well as others. A wide range of styles of
writing was deployed; this characteristic of ancient writing on meteorol-
ogy intrigued me. As I was trained – like many other historians of ancient
science – in the tradition of the history of ideas, this diversity took me by
surprise, and ignited my curiosity regarding the choices made by ancient
authors writing on what we moderns regard as ‘science’.
O ur knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman science comes to us,
largely, through those ancient writings which survive that give an account
of scientifi c and mathematical ideas, methods and practices. Th is volume
ix
x Preface
explores the rich range and variety of formats used for ancient Greek and
Roman writings on scientifi c, mathematical, medical and technical (here
often abbreviated as ‘scientifi c’) subjects, paying particular attention to
the intellectual and broader cultural contexts in which these works were
produced and used. Of course, it is not only the form of communication
that is important; what is being communicated is crucial. However, in the
past, a primary focus on intellectual history and the history of ideas has
seemingly taken for granted that all ‘content’ can be extracted without
considering the medium of communication. I argue that a consideration
of the formal features of ancient Greek and Roman writings on scientifi c
topics reveals layers of meaning that cannot be uncovered by concentrat-
ing solely on the ideas conveyed. Our understanding of those ideas, as
well as of the cultures in which they were produced, communicated, stud-
ied and preserved, is enhanced by a deeper engagement with the ‘medium’
which conveys the message (cf. McLuhan  1964 ).
T oday, readers of ancient scientifi c, mathematical and technical works
do not always come into contact with the form of the original text. Modern
readers of such texts, particularly working from translations, may miss
the meanings conveyed through formal features, such as metre. A case in
point is Lucretius’ D e rerum natura . Readers of the Penguin prose transla-
tion of Lucretius’ O n the nature of the universe by R.E. Latham (1 994) can
be excused if they do not realise that the author was a poet who believed
(as he twice notes, 1.921– 50 and 4.1– 25) that his verse off ered an especially
appealing version of Epicurean philosophy – in the ‘honeyed- cup’ of Latin
poetry. Th at Lucretius chose to convey natural- philosophical ideas using
epic hexameter is thus lost; the cultural meanings and nuances conveyed
by that metre disappear, and our understanding of the ideas contained
in the poem is truncated (see Sedley 1998 ). Perhaps an understanding of
this signifi cant limitation of the prose translation explains the publication
by Penguin in 2007 of a verse translation by A.E. Stallings, Th e Nature of
Th ings .
A text-b ased approach to ancient works on scientifi c and mathematical
topics is used here. In drawing attention to the choice of medium used to
convey the message, I hope to spark further consideration of the interac-
tion between the two, including the eff ect of literary conventions associ-
ated with particular genres on the presentation of material, as well as its
reception by readers. A question springs to mind: Were particular formats
or genres used within particular fi elds of scientifi c inquiry and, if so, why?
Th is is an intriguing question to which the answer is not as simple and
straightforward as might be imagined. For example, the fundamentals