Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius

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For other people named Palladius, see Palladius (disambiguation).

Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, also known as Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus or most often just as Palladius, was an ancient writer who wrote in Latin, and is dated variously to the later 4th century or first half of the 5th century AD.

agriculture
, Opus agriculturae, sometimes known as De re rustica.

Life

Since the Middle Ages, authors of agricultural treatises have referred often to Palladius. The Palladii were a prominent Gallic family, and the name Palladius is probably a family name (of Greek origin), with Aemilianus his cognomen (of Roman origin). In late antiquity, the convention of the tria nomina ("three names") for Roman men was no longer standard, and the greater variation in naming practice contributes to the uncertainty over the correct order of his names.[2] Evidence for his life is scant. Manuscripts of his work call him a vir illustris, which would indicate high rank. Although Palladius relies heavily on earlier agricultural writers, he himself owned farms in Italy and Sardinia, and had considerable experience of farming, with a special interest in fruit trees.[3]

Works

The Opus agriculturae is a treatise on farming in 14 parts or books, written in the late fourth or early fifth century AD.

elegiac verse.[5]

Palladius' work stands in the tradition of Roman agricultural treatises, represented particularly by

Gargilius Martialis. His chief contribution was to reduce the exhaustive works of Columella and Martialis to an appropriate scale for the practical farmer, while at the same time re-organising them on a calendrical basis, to provide the farmer with a checklist of the tasks needing attention each month.[6]

The work of Palladius was well known in the

incunabula
or early editions.

Water-mills

sixteen overshot wheels at Barbegal are considered the largest ancient mill complex. Their capacity was sufficient to feed the whole nearby city of Arles

The book is known for reference to a

Barbegal in southern France, using water fed by a stone aqueduct along the line of the same aqueduct which supplied nearby Arles
.

Principal early editions

The earliest editions of Palladius group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Columella. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "Rei rusticae scriptores" or "Scriptores rei rusticae".[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Robert Browning, "Minor Figures", in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1982), vol. 2, p. 89.
  2. Alan Cameron, "Polyonomy in the Late Roman Aristocracy: The Case of Petronius Probus", Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985), pp. 173–174, citing PLRE
    II, nos. 4 and 13–15.
  3. ^ R.H. Rodgers, "The Moore Palladius", Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 5.3 (1971), p. 203; Browning, "Minor Figures," CHCL, vol. 2, p. 89.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0521210437
    . Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  5. ^ Smith, Sir William (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood (2nd ed.). Boston; London: C. Little, and J. Brown. p. 99, vol. 3. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. ^ Fitch (below) p. 14
  7. ^ Barton Lodge, Sidney J.H. Herrtage (eds.) (1873; 1879). Palladius on Husbondrie: edited from the unique MS. of about 1420 AD in Colchester Castle. London: for the Early English Text Society, N. Trübner & Co.
  8. ^ Eschenburg, Johann Joachim, Nathan Welby Fiske (1839). Manual of classical literature (3rd ed.). Frederick W. Greenough. Retrieved 28 July 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Eschenburg cites the Speculum Historiale of Vincentius)
  9. ^ Brunet, Jacques-Charles (1843). Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, vol 4., R–Z (in French) (4th ed.). Paris: Silvestre. pp. 238–9. Retrieved 28 July 2021.

Further reading

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Palladius, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus".
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