Paradoxography Page 1 of 16 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). © Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 01 October 2018 Abstract and Keywords The chapter explores the ancient Greek and Roman literature on wonders, “paradoxical” objects and events in the natural (and human) worlds, things that are strange but true. The main source for this literature was not observation or experience, but other literature. The chapter describes the genesis and development of the genre and defines its common characteristics; introduces its main authors; and explains its importance for the history of ancient science. Paradoxographical texts have been characterized variously as: (1) lists of facts which are considered wondrous, or (2) a sensationalist and consumer- oriented type of writing, or (3) the second-rate extracts from proper historical and scientific authors. Paradoxography was a thriving literary field from Early Hellenistic times, throughout the Greco-Roman era, and into Byzantine times. Keywords: Antigonus of Carystus, Aristotle, Callimachus, Isigonus of Nicaea, Nicolaus of Damascus, paradoxa, Phlegon of Tralles, Theophrastus, wonders 1. Introduction STRANGENESS attracts. The odd and the wondrous fix our attention and beg for explanation. There is therefore nothing strange about the fact that Greek literature, from the very beginning, features objects of wonder. In Homeric epics we find things (in particular, products of craft) that are “a wonder to behold” (thauma idesthai: Iliad 5.725, 18.377; Odyssey 6.306, 7.45). Herodotus announces as a purpose of his inquiry the preservation of “deeds great and wondrous” (erga megala kai thōmasta: Histories 1.1.3), and this includes both natural wonders (e.g., noteworthy geographical features or animal behavior: Histories 3.113.1, 4.53.3) and human and technical achievements “well worth Paradoxography Klaus Geus and Colin Guthrie King Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World Edited by Paul T. Keyser and John Scarborough Print Publication Date: Aug 2018 Subject: Classical Studies, Ancient Science and Medicine Online Publication Date: Jul 2018 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199734146.013.20 Oxford Handbooks Online