Giovanni Piccolo, University of Melbourne
This paper intends to offer a new reading of the zoological content of Gaius Julius Solinus’ Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium (III-IV AD). Specifically, it aims to provide an explanation for the significant presence of exotic animals within the paradoxographical chapters of the work. Solinus’ Collectanea is a description of wondrous natural, zoological and anthropological phenomena, based on data largely compiled from Mela’s Chorographia and Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (along with a number of unidentified sources), presented within a geographical framework. A large part of this work consists, however, of the collection of mirabilia involving animals (including a rather peculiar obsession with snakes and reptiles) to the extent that the description of different geographical areas, mentioned by the author in the preface as the ultimate purpose of the Collectanea, often appears as a mere pretext for the introduction of lengthy excursuses on exotic beasts and their peculiarities. Animal-related content occupies, in fact, approximately 20% of the entire content of this work and, between real and fantastic creatures, Solinus names 48 animals, whose different species and general make up a total of 85 animal beings, in the description of which he alternates scientific rigour to descriptive language. Scholars have debated over the meaning and purpose of Solinus’ mirabilia in general, and animal paradoxography in particular. Some scholars (Paniagua, 2008; Romer, 2014) see Solinus' taste for paradoxography as part of an imperialistic encyclopaedic project and as a testament to the greatness of the Roman Empire, through the assertion that memoria equals knowledge, and knowledge equals universal power; while one scholar (Bedon, 2004) goes as far as suggesting that the zoological paragraphs of the Collectanea be read as a catalogue of circus animals with instructions on their capture and consequent transport to Rome. This paper argues that the importance of animal paradoxography lies in the author’s reaction to it; specifically, in the way in which his very amazement at the unnaturalness of Nature is a manifestation of his belief in its intelligent power. The description of animals is, in fact, the best evidence of Solinus’ authorial autonomy, as it shows his perception of the creatures that he describes, exposing both positive and negative feelings towards them, in a way that his sources’ writing does not. By looking at the author’s depiction of certain creatures (such as snakes) and of the role designed for them by Nature, this paper aims to demonstrate how the zoological content of Solinus’ Collectanea is indicative of the author’s view of Nature as a living and active force; a view influenced by the cultural and religious eclecticism of his time.