{"title":"“Is the Embryo a Living Being?” (Aët. 5.15): Embryology, Plants, and the Origin of Life in Presocratic Thought","authors":"Claudia Zatta","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10268","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Building on previous studies, this essay discusses the use of embryological images and analogies in Anaximander, Empedocles, Democritus, and Lucretius. It pursues their intertextual connections arguing that in ancient philosophy embryology was not only relevant for conceiving the early formation of the cosmos as has been claimed so far, but that it also shaped the conception of the primeval rise of animal life and the living processes of plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"MNEMOSYNE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10268","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Building on previous studies, this essay discusses the use of embryological images and analogies in Anaximander, Empedocles, Democritus, and Lucretius. It pursues their intertextual connections arguing that in ancient philosophy embryology was not only relevant for conceiving the early formation of the cosmos as has been claimed so far, but that it also shaped the conception of the primeval rise of animal life and the living processes of plants.
期刊介绍:
Since its first appearance as a journal of textual criticism in 1852, Mnemosyne has secured a position as one of the leading journals in its field worldwide. Its reputation is built on the Dutch academic tradition, famous for its rigour and thoroughness. It attracts contributions from all over the world, with the result that Mnemosyne is distinctive for a combination of scholarly approaches from both sides of the Atlantic and the Equator. Its presence in libraries around the globe is a sign of its continued reputation as an invaluable resource for scholarship in Classical studies.