Structures and strategies in ancient Greek and Roman technical writing: An Introduction

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• 作者：Aude Doody^a ; Sabine Fö ; llinger^b ; Liba Taub^c ; ^d ; ^{lct1001@cam.ac.uk}
• 关键词：Literature ; Technical literature ; Specialist literature ; Scientific texts
• 刊名：Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：25_00393681
• 类别：art
• 出版时间：June, 2012
• 卷：43
• 期：2
• 页码：233-236
• 文件大小：134 K

摘要

Most of our knowledge of Greek and Roman scientific practice and its place in ancient culture is derived from our study of ancient texts. In the last few decades, this written evidence鈥攁ncient technical or specialist literature鈥攈as begun to be studied using tools of literary analysis to help answer questions about, for instance, how these works were composed, their authors鈥?intentions and the expectations of their readers.

This introduction to Structures and strategies in ancient Greek and Roman technical writing provides an overview of recent scholarship in the area, and the difficulty in pinning down what 鈥榯echnical/specialist literature鈥?might mean in an ancient context, since Greek and Roman authors communicated scientific knowledge using a wide variety of styles and forms of text (e.g. poetry, dialogues, letters).

An outline of the three sections is provided: Form as a mirror of method, in which Sabine F枚llinger and Alexander Mueller explore ways in which the structures of texts by Aristotle and Plutarch may reflect methodological concerns; Authors and their implied readers, with contributions by Oliver Stoll, David Creese, Boris Dunsch and Paula Olmos, which examines what ancient texts can tell us about the place of technical knowledge in antiquity; Science and the uses of poetry, with articles by Jochen Althoff, Michael Coxhead and Laurence Totelin, and a new English translation of the Aetna poem by Harry Hine, which explores the (to us) unexpected roles of poetry in ancient scientific culture.