Les remèdes animaux chez Pline l’Ancien (Rome, ier siècle) : organiser une « plus grande médecine »

Abstract

The Natural History by Pliny the Elder, a Roman encyclopedia from the first century AD, devotes several volumes to medical material derived from animals. However, this organic pharmacopoeia is questioned by the author, who is not content to simply list remedies, but deploys various modes of validating or invalidating knowledge, which he selects and organizes according to his own particular interests. The argument of authority and Nature’s divine power go hand in hand with a respect for tradition in a valuation effect. Conversely, attributing knowledge to the “magi” serves to disqualify certain animal remedies, which are deemed to be ineffective, or even miraculous. The structure of the “cards” that Pliny devotes to certain animal species also allows us to observe that the lists of remedies build a gradation in sensitivity towards the ways in which the animal body is consumed.

Keywords

• animals
• pharmacopeia
• Pliny the Elder
• Roma
• knowledge transmission