Geoponika : farm work : a modern translation of the Roman and Byzantine farming handbook
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Geoponika : farm work : a modern translation of the Roman and Byzantine farming handbook
Prospect Books, 2011
- Other Title
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Farm work
Modern translation of the Roman and Byzantine farming handbook
- Uniform Title
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Geoponica
Available at 3 libraries
Note
Based on a colleciton made by Cassianus Bassus
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-352) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Geoponika is one of the most celebrated texts to come out of the Byzantine renaissance promoted by the 10th-century emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. It was a gathering together of many classical and post-classical agricultural works, from Pliny in ancient Rome to the 7th-century Cassianus Bassus and the 4th-century Vindonius Anatolius. Many of these no longer survive, making the Geoponika the more valuable. It is a source both for ancient Roman agricultural practice in the West, and for understanding Near Eastern agriculture and what went on in Byzantine Anatolia. It was once translated into English, in the early 19th century, but has usually only been accessible to scholars of Greek. The history of the manuscript is extremely complicated. Andrew Dalby provides a modern and intelligent translation. He does not explore in any detail textual and linguistic matters, wishing to concentrate on questions of agriculture and food production (meanwhile a definitive Greek text is in preparation elsewhere). This will be an essential tool for students of the classical and medieval worlds.
Table of Contents
Translator's introduction. Contents of the original text: Of the atmosphere, and of the rising and setting of the stars. Of general matters appertaining to agriculture, and of the different kinds of corn. Of the various agricultural duties suitable to each month. Of the cultivation of the vine. Of the making of wine. Of the cultivation of the olive and the making of oil. Of horticulture. Of the animals and insects injurious to plants. Of pigeons and other birds. Of natural sympathies and antipathies, and of the management of bees. Of horses, donkeys and camels. Of the breeding of cattle. Of the breeding of sheep. Of dogs, hares, deer, pigs, and of salting meat. Of fishes.
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