History of Animals
by Aristotle · Περὶ τὰ ζῷα ἱστορίαι
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 345 BCE
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Long · 350 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1, translated by Jonathan Barnes (ed.)Princeton University Press, 1984The revised Oxford translation of the full text, which is otherwise scattered across three Loeb volumes.
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Aristotle's great collection of zoological facts, the raw material for his explanatory works. It records the external and internal parts of hundreds of species, their modes of reproduction, habitats, diets, migrations and behaviour, drawing on his own dissections and on fishermen, hunters and beekeepers. Its descriptions of the octopus, the placental dogfish and the development of the chick were not bettered for two thousand years.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns History of Animals are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
