The Geoponica is a twenty-book collection of agricultural lore, compiled during the 10th century in Constantinople for the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" ( Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος The Greek word Geoponica signifies "agricultural pursuits" in its widest sense. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly
The 10th century collection is sometimes (wrongly) ascribed to the 7th century author Cassianus Bassus, whose collection, also titled Geoponica, was integrated into the extant work. The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Cassianus Bassus, called Scholasticus (lawyer was one of the Geoponici - the group of writers on agricultural subjects. Bassus drew heavily on the work on another agricultural compiler, Vindonius Anatolius (4th century). Vindonius Anatolius of Beirut (also known as Vindanius, Vindanionius, Berytius) was a Greek author of the 4th century and may be identical with As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century The ultimate sources of the Geoponica include Pliny, various lost Hellenistic and Roman-period Greek agriculture and veterinary authors, the Carthaginian agronomist Mago, and even works passing under the name of the Persian prophet Zoroaster. Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author Mago was a Carthaginian writer author of an Agricultural manual in Punic which was a record of the farming knowledge of Carthage Zoroaster ( Latinized from Greek variants) or Zarathushtra (from Avestan Zaraθuštra) also referred to as Zartosht (زرتشت (The names of the principal sources for each section are attached to the text, although the age and correctness of these attributions remains in doubt. ) The Greek manuscript tradition is extremely complex and not fully understood. Syriac, Pahlavi, Arabic and Armenian translations attest to its worldwide popularity and complicate the manuscript tradition still further. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE became a Prestige dialect Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian
Contents
The Geoponica embraces all manner of "agricultural" information, including celestial and terrestrial omina, viticulture, oleoculture, apiculture, veterinary medicine, the construction of fishponds and much more. An omen (also called portent or presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the Future, often signifying the advent of change Viticulture (from the Latin word for Vine) is the Science, production and study of Grapes which deals with the series of The Olive ( Olea europaea) is a Species of small Tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Beekeeping (or apiculture, from Latin apis, Bee) is the maintenance of Honey bee colonies commonly in Hives Veterinary medicine the application of medical, diagnostic, and therapeutic principles to companion, domestic, exotic, wildlife Fishponds is an outer urban area in the north-east of the English city of Bristol.
Taken from Charles Anthon's Manual of Greek Literature (1853).
- 1. Of the atmosphere, and of the rising and setting of the stars
- 2. Of general matters appertaining to agriculture, and of the different kinds of corn
- 3. Of the various agricultural duties suitable to each month
- 4–5. Of the cultivation of the vine
- 6–8. Of the making of wine
- 9. Of the cultivation of the olive and the making of oil
- 10–12. Of horticulture
- 13. Of the animals and insects injurious to plants
- 14. Of pigeons and other birds
- 15. Of natural sympathies and antipathies, and of the management of bees
- 16. Of horses, donkeys and camels
- 17. Of the breeding of cattle
- 18. Of the breeding of sheep
- 19. Of dogs, hares, deer, pigs, and of salting meat
- 20. Of fishes
Bibliography
- Teubner edition of the Greek text (ed. Heinrich Beckh): ISBN 3-598-71387-8
External links
- PDF: "Kêpopoiïa: Garden-Making and Garden Culture in the Greek Geoponica," in Byzantine Garden Culture, ed. A. Littlewood et al. (Washington, 2002), 159-175.
- Discussion of the Geoponica by John N. Lupia, III, from the LT-ANTIQ listserve, with bibliography
- Translation by Thomas Owen (1805-06)
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