Summary
In the year 77, Roman officer and word-smith Pliny the Elder published his comprehensive 37-volume Historia Naturalis, in which he discussed, or so he intended, all aspects of the natural world. Devoted to "Land Animals," Book 8 in the series ranged from dromedaries to sheep to Alexander the Great's dog. Also discussed were certain species that in years to follow would prove to be more fantastic than factual, including the basilisk, king of serpents, that could kill with its vision ("yet to a creature so marvelous as this," wrote Pliny, "the venom of weasels is fatal"), and the manticore, a dastardly assemblage of man and lion sporting a tail full of poisoned quills that could be shot like arrows.
Another prickly creature discussed by Pliny, smaller and less fearsome than the manticore but no less fanciful, was the hedgehog. "Hedgehogs," he wrote, "roll on fallen apples to stick them to their spines, then taking one or more in their mouths, carry the load to hollow trees." This statement is most interesting as it describes hedgehog behavior that has not once been observed in the subsequent two millennia (even frustrating the best efforts of Pliny apologists to recreate the act).See the full content of this document
Extract
Foreign Correspondence; West Mecca, Ohio
In the year 77, Roman officer and word-smith Pliny the Elder published his comprehensive 37-volume Historia Naturalis, in which he discussed, or so he intended, all aspects of the natural world. Devoted to "Land Animals," Book 8 in the ...
See the full content of this document
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