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Isidore of Seville, On the Nature of Things (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R3,266
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Isidore of Seville, On the Nature of Things (Hardcover)
Series: Translated Texts for Historians, 66
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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For scholars in the European Middle Ages, Isidore, bishop of
Seville (560? - 636) was one of the most influential authorities
for understanding the natural world. Isidore's On the Nature of
Things is the first work on natural science by a Christian author
that is not a commentary on the creation story in Genesis. Instead,
Isidore adopted a classical model to describe the structure of the
physical cosmos, and discuss the principles of astronomy, physics,
geography, meteorology and time-reckoning. Into this framework he
incorporated an eclectic array of ancient and patristic erudition.
The fact that On the Nature of Things presents an essentially
Greco-Roman picture of the universe, but amplified with Christian
reflections and allegories, played a crucial role in the
assimilation of ancient science into the emerging culture of the
Middle Ages. It exerted a deep and long-lasting influence on
scholars like Bede, one of whose earliest works was an adaptation
of On the Nature of Things. On the Nature of Things provides a new
window into vital intellectual currents, as yet largely unexplored,
flowing from Visigothic Spain into Celtic Ireland, Anglo-Saxon
England, and Merovingian France. This is the first translation of
this work into English. The introduction places the work in the
context of Isidore's milieu and concerns, and traces the remarkable
diffusion of his book. A chapter-by-chapter commentary explains how
Isidore selected and transformed his source material, and added his
own distinctive features, notably the diagrams that gave this work
its medieval name The Book of Wheels (Liber rotarum).
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