History of Natural History

This educational resource aims to facilitate exploring texts on Natural History from Antiquity to the 19th century and their authors, timeline and tradition.

In Antiquity ground-breaking texts in this discipline were written in Ancient Greek on animals by Aristotle (Historia Animalium) and on plants by Theophrastus (Historia Plantarum). The main part of Hippocratic Corpus on medicine was written in Ancient Greek and also dates back roughly to the 4th century BC. Dioscorides, a medic in the Roman army, wrote De Materia Medica in the 1st century AD in Ancient Greek as well, it was to become the most influential herbal in human history. At about the same time Pliny the Elder composed in Latin his 37 volume encyclopaedic work Naturalis Historia (using Aristotle, Theophrastus and other Greek sources) that gave the discipline of Natural History its name. Galen, a prominent 2nd century AD medic often also in the Roman Army, wrote in Ancient Greek, his works that were inspired by the Hippocratic Corpus formed the base of medical knowledge both in the Western European and in the Eastern Arabic tradition for many centuries to come.

In Medieval times it was Albertus Magnus who summarised Aristotle and provided the new canon on animals in Latin, while the 1st century De Materia Medica by Dioscorides persevered in the position of the most relevant herbal.

Other names followed with the beginning of Renaissance.

4th Century BC

 * Hippocrates of Cos (c.460–c.370 BC) and Hippocratic Corpus after his time Hippocratic Corpus
 * Aristotle (384–322 BC) History of Animals
 * Theophrastus (c.371–c.287 BC) Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)

1st Century AD

 * Dioscorides (c.40-90 AD) De Materia Medica
 * Pliny (23-79 AD) Natural History (Pliny)

2nd Century AD

 * Galen (129–c.200/c.216 AD) Galen

13th Century
Germany
 * Albertus Magnus a.k.a. Albert the Great (c.1200-1280) Albertus Magnus - U of Padua

15th Century
Italy
 * Leoniceno (1428–1524) Niccolò Leoniceno - U Padua

16th Century
Switzerland
 * Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) Conrad Gessner U Strasbourg, U Bourges

Germany
 * Valerius Cordus (1515–1544) Valerius Cordus U Marburg, U Leipzig, U Wittenberg


 * Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566) Leonhart Fuchs U Ingolstadt

France http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4770436 Petri Bellonii Cenomani De aquatilibus, libri duo cum [epsilon, iota] conibus ad uiuam ipsorum effigiem, quoad eius fieri potuit, expressis ... Parisiis 1553, apud Carolum Stephanum, Typographum Regium.
 * Pierre Belon (1517–1564) Pierre Belon U Wittenberg, U Paris

http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42089491 Gulielmi Rondeletii doctoris Medici et medicinae ... Libri de piscibus marinis : in quibus veræ piscium effigies expressae sunt : quæ in tota piscium historia continentur, indicat elenchus pagina nona et decima : postremo accesserunt indices necessarii. Luguduni,1554-1555, apud Matthiam Bonhomme.
 * Guillaume_Rondelet (1507-1566) Guillaume Rondelet U Montpellier, U Paris

Italy


 * Ulisse_Aldrovandi (1522-1605) Ulisse Aldrovandi U Padua

http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44715684 Aquatilium animalium historiae, liber primus : cum eorumdem formis, aere excusis. Romae :Apud eundem Hippolytum Saluianum,mense Ianuario, MDLVIII (1558)
 * Hippolito_Salviani (1514-1572) Hippolito Salviani U Rome


 * Andrea_Cesalpino (1519-1603) Andrea Cesalpino U Pisa


 * Antonio Musa Brassavola (1500-1555) Antonio Musa Brassavola U Ferrara, U Padua