Authorities cited particularly in the notes.

 

This is an alphabetic list of the "authorities" cited in Ponce de Leon's commentary on the Physiologus. Only the names are given; there is no indication of where the author is referenced in the notes. There are 155 names in the list; those which have been identified have a brief biography below. It was the custom of scholars in the sixteenth century to "Latinize" their names; the real name is given where known. The names are not always in correct alphabetic order in Ponce de Leon's list; the order has been corrected here.

(Note: a ? following the name indicates that the person has not yet been identified, or that the given identification is uncertain; a + following the name indicates that there are two or more persons with that name, and the correct one has not yet been determined.)

 

Ælianus: Claudius Aelianus (ca. 3rd century CE). Born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric; he spoke Greek perfectly, preferred Greek authors, and wrote in Greek himself.
His chief works are: On the Nature of Animals, stories of animal life, frequently used to convey moral lessons; Various History, anecdotes of men and customs.

Æneas Gazzæus: Æneas of Gaza (5th - 6th century CE). Neo-Platonic philosopher; a convert to Christianity; author of Theophrastus.

Æmilius Macer: (ca. 1st century BCE). Roman didactic poet, author of two poems, one on birds (Ornithogonia), the other on the antidotes against the poison of serpents (Tizeriaca), imitated from the Greek poet Nicander of Colophon.

Albertus: Albertus Magnus = Albert the Great (1206 - 1280 CE). Scientist, philosopher, and theologian; called "Doctor Universalis"; author of numerous works, including De animalibus, De motibus animalium, De Coelo et Mundo, and Mineralium.

Alcimus Auitus: Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus (mid 5th century - 523 CE). Archbishop of Vienne in Narbonian Gaul; author of de Origine Mundi, a poem in five books on subjects drawn from Genesis and Exodus, de Peccato Originali, de Sententia Dei, de Diluvio and de Transitu Maris Rubri.

Ambrosius: St Ambrose (340 CE - 397 CE). Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably at Trier, Arles, or Lyons. He was one of the Fathers and Doctors of the early Christian Church.

Anastasius Nyssenus: ?

Antiochus: Antiochus of Palestine (7th century CE). A monk and Abbot of the monastery of St. Saba near Jerusalem. Author of the Pandects of Holy Scripture, a collection of moral sentences, and the Exomologesis.

Apuleius: Lucius Apuleius (2nd century CE). Latin writer in Roman North Africa; author of the Apologia, the Florida, and the Metamorphoses (often referred to as The Golden Ass).

Aratus: (ca. 310 - 240 BCE). A Macedonian Greek mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, botanist and poet; author of the astronomical epic The Phenomena (Fainomena), which includes scientific subjects and myths.

Aristides: (2nd century CE). A Christian apologist living at Athens; author of the Apologeticum.

Aristophanes: (ca. 446 BC - 385 BC). A Greek comic poet, probably of Athens; author of comedies The Birds and The Frogs, among many others.

Aristophanis scholiastes: "Scholarly works on Aristophanes"; writings of the "Aristophanic scholiasts".

Arnobius: (3rd century CE). A Christian apologist; author of Adversus Nationes.

Artemidorus: Artemidorus of Ephesus (ca. 103 BCE). Greek geographer quoted by Strabo. He wrote 11 books on his Mediterranean travels, only fragments of which survive.

Athanasius: (297 - 373 CE). Bishop of Alexandria; author of the apologetical treatises Against the Gentiles, Orations or Discourses against the Arians, and On the Incarnation of the Word.

Athenæus: (3rd century CE). Greek writer from Naucratis in Egypt; author of the Deipnosophistae (Banquet of the Sophists), an anthological collection of anecdotes and excerpts from ancient writers whose works are otherwise lost.

Aristoteles: Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE). Greek philosopher; student of Plato; author of works on natural history, including Historiae Animalium, De Generatione et Corruptione, De Generatione Animalium, and De Partibus Animalium.

Augustinus: Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430 CE). Saint; early Christian philosopher and theologian; Father of the Church; author of the Confessions and The City of God.

Augustinus Steucus: ?

Auicenna: Avicenna (Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina) (980 - 1037 CE). Arab Muslim philosopher, physician, mathematician, astronomer; author of the Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing), an encyclopedic work.

Aurelius Victor: Sextus Aurelius Victor (4th century CE). Roman historian; author of De Viris Illustribus Urbis Romae and Origo Gentis Romanae.

Basilius: Basil the Great (329 - 379 CE). Saint; bishop of Caesarea, and one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church; brother of Gregory of Nyssa; author of De Spiritu Sancto, On the Hexaemeron and several homilies, exigetical works, and many letters.

Bellonius: Pierre Belon (1517 - 1564 CE). A French naturalist; author of Histoire naturelle des estranges poissons, De aquatilibus, and L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux.

Benedictus Pererius: Bento Pereira or Pereyra (1535-1610 CE). Spanish Jesuit scholar; lived and worked in Italy; author of De communibus rerum principiis and Adversvs fallaces et svperstitiosas artes, id est, de magia, de observatione somniorum, & de diuinatione astrologica.

Bernardus: +

Bianorus: ?

Biblia sacra: "Sacred Bible", chiefly the Old Testament.

Billius: Jacobus Billius Prunæus = Jacques de Billy (1535 - 1581 CE). French patristic scholar, theologian, jurist, linguist, and a Benedictine abbot; translator of Gregory of Nazianzus in Sancti Patris Nostri Gregorii Nazianzeni Theologi Opera (Paris, 1569 and 1583).

Budæus: Guillaume Budé (1467-1540 CE). French humanist; translated and commented on Greek literature; author of Commentarii linguae graecae, among other works.

Cardanus: Girolamo Cardan (1501 - 1576 CE). Italian physician and mathematician; born in Pavia; degree of Doctor of Medicine at Padua University; author of Ars Magna, a treatise on algebra (published 1545).

Cassianus: Cassianus Bassus (ca. 6th - 7th century CE). Author of Geoponica, a collection of agricultural literature (on birds, bees, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, fish, etc.), revised about 950 by an unknown writer; widely printed in the sixteenth century.

C. Cæsar: ?

Cælius Rhodiginus: Lodovicus Caelius Rhodiginus = Lodovico (or Luigi) Ricchieri (1453 – 1525 CE). Author of Lectionvm antiqvarvm libri triginta, a survey of the works of Classical Greek and Latin writers.

Celsus: Celsus the Platonist (2nd century CE). An eclectic Platonist and polemical writer against Christianity, one of several of that name who opposed Christianity; author of The True Discourse.

Chrysostomus: John Chrysostom (347 - 407 CE). Doctor of the early Greek Christian Church; born at Antioch; named for his eloquence (Chrysostomos = "golden-mouthed"); Bishop of Constantinople; author of many commentaries and homilies; supposed author of the Dicta Chrysostomi, a Physiologus variant.

Cicero: Marcus Tullius Cicero (ca. 106 - 43 CE). Roman orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher; author of On the Orator, On the Republic, On the Laws, On the Nature of the Gods, On Divination, On Fate, and several other works.

Clemens Alexandrinus: Titus Flavius Clemens (1st - 2nd century CE). Known as St Clement of Alexandria; Greek theologian and head of the catechetical school of Alexandria; author of the Miscellanies (Stromateis), an encyclopedic work.

Clemens Romanus: Pope St. Clement I (1st century CE). Known as St Clement of Rome; fourth Catholic pope, though tradition has it that he was ordained by St Peter himself.

Climacus: John Climacus (525 - 606 CE). Saint; monk and abbot of a monastery at Sinai; author of Scala Paradisi and the Liber ad Pastorem.

Columella: Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (1st century CE). Spanish Latin writer on agriculture and animal husbandry; author of De re rustica.

Curtius: Quintus Curtius Rufus (? - 53 CE). Roman historian; author of Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis (History of Alexander the Great of Macedonia).

Cyrillus: +

Didymus: Didymus the Blind (ca. 310 - 398 CE). Of Alexandria; lost the use of his eyes when four years old, yet he became one of the most learned men of his period; one of the principal opponents of Arianism.

Diogenes Laertius: (3rd century CE). Biographer of ancient Greek philosophers; author of Philosophoi Biol (Lives of the Philosophers),

Dion Chrysostomus: (ca. 40 - 112 CE). Greek philosopher and rhetorician; his surname (meaning "golden mouth") signifies his eloquence; author of the multi-volume Discourses.

Dionysius Areopagita: Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (ca. 4th - 5th century CE). Supposed to be the judge of the Areopagus who was converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul, and to have been Bishop of Athens, but this is probably incorrect; author of On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology and the Celestial Hierarchy.

Dionysius Vticensis: Dionysius Uticensis ("Dionysius of Utica") (2nd century BCE). Possible original author of a work on agriculture that formed the basis of the Geoponica of Cassianus Bassus.

Dioscorides: Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40 - 90 CE). Greek physician and botanist; author of De materia medica, a pharmacological and medical treatise in five books (On plant materials, On all manner of animals, On all manner of oils, On materials derived from trees, On wines and minerals and other similar substances) that was still in use in the sixteenth century.

Dorotheus: +

Epiphanius: (ca. 310 - 403 CE). Saint; Bishop of Constantia (Salamis) on Cyprus; supposed author of the Physiologus.

Eucherius: +

Eusebius: Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine (260 - 339 CE). Sometimes known as "Pamphilus" (Eusebius Pamphili); bishop of Caesarea; author of the Life of Constantine, On the Martyrs of Palestine and the Onomasticon (Topics)..

Eustathius: +

Euthymius: Euthymius the Great (377 - 473 CE). Saint; abbot and priest in Palestine; for many years a hermit in the wilderness.

Festus Pompeius: Sextus Pompeius Festus (2nd century CE). Roman grammarian; author of the etymological work De verborum significatu (On the Meaning of Words), an abridgement of the encyclopedic treatise in many volumes by Verrius Flaccus Festus, which was further abridged in a summary made at the close of the 8th century CE by Paul the Deacon.

Franciscus Turrianus: Francesco Torres or de la Torre (1509 - 1584 CE). Spanish Jesuit; author of the Apostolic Constitutions (published by Plantin in 1578).

Fulbertus Carnotensis: Fulbert of Chartres (952 - 1028 CE). Bishop of Chartres; author of De peccatis capitalibus, Hymni et carmina ecclesiastica, and Proclamatio antequam dicant "Pax Domini" among many other works, including music.

Galenus: Claudius Galen / Galen of Pergamum (ca. 130 - 200 CE). Greek physician and philosopher; standard authority on medicine until the sixteenth century; author of On the Natural Facilities, a medical text.

Gaudentius: (late 4th - 5th century CE). Saint; Bishop of Brescia; author of several tractates and sermons.

Gellius: Aulus Gellius (ca. 130 - 180 CE). Latin author and grammarian; author of the Noctes Atticae, an encyclopedic work covering grammar, geometry, philosophy, history and almost every other branch of knowledge.

Glossæ veteres: "The old glossaries."

Godefridus Billius: ?

Gorgias: (ca. 480 - 376 BCE). Greek sophist and rhetorician; known as "the Nihilist"; author of the Handbook to Rhetoric and the philosohical treatise On Nature, or the Non-existent.

Gregorius Magnus: Gregory the Great (ca. 540 - 604 CE). Saint; Pope (590 - 604 CE); Doctor of the Church; author of Moralium Libri XXXV, Regulae Pastoralis Liber, Dialogorum Libri IV, Homiliarum in Ezechielem Prophetam Lobri II, Epistolarum Libri XIV among other works.

Gregorius Nazianzenus: Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 325 - 389 CE). Saint; bishop of Sasima and of Constantinople; orator and theologian; author of many poems (verses, epigrams, epitaphs and epistles) and orations.

Gregorius Nyssenus: Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335 - 394 CE). Saint; bishop of Nyssa; leading theologian and writer of the Eastern church; younger brother of Basil the Great; author of De virginitate, Oratio Catechetica and several homilies.

Hermogenes: +

Hermolaus Barbarus: Ermolao Barbaro (1453 - 1493 CE). Italian scholar and commentator on Aristotle, Dioscorides, Plato, Pliny, etc.; author of Castigationes Plinianae, Compendium scientiæ naturalis ex Aristotele, and several other works.

Herodotus: Herodotus of Halicarnassus (5th century BCE). Greek historian, traveller, topographer, storyteller; called the "Father of History"; author of The Histories, an account of the Persian invasion of Greece and of Heroditus's travels..

Hesiodus: (ca. 8th century BCE). Greek poet; author of Works and Days and Theogony, an account of the origin of the world and the gods.

Hesychius: +

Hieronymus: +

Hilarius: +

Hippolytus: +

Homerus: Homer (ca. 9th century BCE). Greek poet; author of the Odyssey and the Illiad.

Horatius: Quintus Horatius Flaccus = Horace (65 - 8 BCE). Latin lyric poet and satirist; author of Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), Satires, Epodes, Epistles, and other works.

Hyginus: Gaius Julius Hyginus (ca. 64 BCE - 17 CE). Latin author, native of Spain or Alexandria; attributed author of two treatises on mythology: the Genealogiae (also called the Fabulae), some 300 mythological legends and celestial genealogies; De Astronomia, usually called Poetica Astronomica, containing an elementary treatise on astronomy and the myths connected with the stars.

Iacobus Pamelius: Jacobus Pamelius (1536 - 1587 CE). Belgian priest and patristics scholar; editor of and commentator on the writings of Tertullian (published by Plantin in 1584).

Incognitus Psalmorum commentator: "Anonymous commentator on the Psalms".

Ioannes Damascenus: John Damascene (ca. 676 - 754-787 CE). "John of Damascus"; Christian theologian and writer in a Muslem area; anti-iconoclast; author of the Fountain of Wisdom, an encyclopedic work divided into three parts: "Philosophical Chapters", "Concerning Heresy" (an updated version of the Panarion of Epiphanius), and "An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith".

loannes Tzetzes: Joannes Tzetzes (ca. 1110 - 1186 CE). Byzantine grammarian; author of the Chiliades (Thousands), also known as the Book of Histories, a long poem containing literary, historical, antiquarian, and mythological miscellanies quoted from over 400 authors.

Irenæus: (2nd century CE). Saint; Bishop of Lyons, and Father of the Church; author of Adversus haereses (opposing the Gnostic heresy) and Proof of the Apostolic Preaching.

Isidorus Hispalensis: Isidore of Seville (560 - 636 CE). Saint; Bishop of Seville; author of the Etymologiae, an encyclopedic work covering all human knowledge, with the chapters on animals being frequently quoted in bestiaries.

Isidorus Pelusiotes: Isidor Pelusiotes (5th century CE). Monk and preacher; founded a monastery at Mount Pelusiotes in Egypt; disciple of John Chrysostom; author of a large number of works.

Iulius Pomerius: Julianus Pomerius (5th - 6th century CE). Born in North Africa, lived in Gaul; priest at Arles; author of De vita contemplativa (On the Contemplative Life).

Iulius Scaliger: Julius Caesar Scaliger = Giulio Cesare Scaligero = Jules Cesar de l'Escale (1484 - 1558 CE). Humanist scholar and physician; author of commentaries on Aristotle's writing, including the Historiae Animalium; translator of Aristotle's Natural History.

Iuris pandectæ: Part of the Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian's law code); the pandects or digest, issued in 533, in which was compiled the writings of the great Roman jurists.

Iustitius: ?

Iustinus Martyr: Justin Martyr (ca. 100 - 165 CE). Saint; Father of the Church; Christian apologist; author of two Apologies and the Dialogue.

Lactantius: Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (ca. 260 - 340 CE). Christian apologist; before his conversion he was an official professor of rhetoric in Nicomedia; author of Divinarum Institutionum Libri VII (The Divine Institutions) and De ave phoenice, a poem on the phoenix.

Lucanus: Marcus Annaeus Lucanus = Lucan (39 - 65 CE). Latin Spanish poet; grandson of Seneca the Elder; committed suicide at the order of the emperor Nero; author of Pharsalia (commonly known as the Civil War), which contains references to and descriptions of several bestiary animals.

Lucianus: Lucian of Samosata (ca . 120 - 190 CE). Greek satirist; author of several dialogues (Dialogues of the Gods, Dialogues of the Dead, etc.), on ancient mythology, and The True History, a fantasy parody of adventure stories.

Lucretius: Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 - 55 BCE). Roman poet; author of De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), a comprehensive exposition of the Epicurean world-view.

Ludouicus Legionensis: ? ("Ludovicus of Liege", "Louis/Lewis/Ludwig of Liege").

Lysias: (ca. 459 - 380 BCE). Greek orator; author of numerous texts "for" and "against" various people (Against Eratosthenes, Against Nicomachus, Against The Corn Dealers, For Polystratus,
For The Soldier, etc.).

Macrobius: Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius (4th - 5th century CE). Roman grammarian and philosopher; author of Saturnalia and Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, a commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio).

Marc. Anton. Flaminius: Marcus Antonius Flaminius = Marcantonio Flaminio (1498 - 1550 CE). Italian humanist and theologian; author of Librum Psalmorum Brevis Explanatio (published by Plantin, 1558).

Martialis: Marcus Valerius Martialis = Martial (40 - 104 CE). Latin poet, epigrammatist and satyrist from Spain; author of Liber spectaculorum and twelve books of epigrams.

Martianus Capella: (5th century CE). Writer of Roman Africa; author of De nuptiis philologiæ et Mercurii (The Marriage of Philology and Mercury), an allegorical encyclopedia of human knowledge .

Matthiolus: Petrus Andreas Matthiolus = Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501 – 1577 CE). Botanist and herbalist; commentator on Dioscorides (Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Diosciridis, Venice, 1554).

Maximus monachus: ? ("Maximus the monk").

Menander: (342 - 291 BCE). Greek dramatist; author of more than a hundred comedies, including Georgos (The Farmer), Deisidaimon (The Superstitious Man), Dyskolos (The Grouch)

Michael Glyca: Michael Glycas (12th century CE). Byzantine historian, theologian, and poet; author of Biblos chronike, a world chronicle (also known as the Annales), and of theological works.

Michael Herus: (16th century CE). Humanist scholar; translated Seneca into German.

Moses Bar-Cepha: (9th century CE). Syrian writer; wrote about the location of Paradise; quoted by Abraham Ortelius.

Nicander: (2nd century BCE). Greek poet, physician and grammarian; author of Theriaca, a poem on the nature of venomous animals, and Alexipharmaca, treating of poisons and their antidotes.

Nicetas: (ca. 345 - 414 CE). Bishop of Remesiana; author of a six volume work containing instructions for candidates for baptism.

Nicolaus Lyranus: Nicholas of Lyra (ca.1270-1349 CE). French Franciscan theologian and influential exegete; author of Tractatus de differentia nostrae translationis ab Hebr. littera and Liber differentiarum V. et N. Testamenti.

Nonnius: Petrus Nonius = Pedro Nuñez Salaciense = Pedro Nunes (1492 - 1577 CE). Portuguese mathematician, astronomer and cosmographer; author of Tratado da sphera com a theorica do sol (Lisbon, 1537), De crepusculis liber unus (Lisbon, 1542), De arte atque ratione navigandi (Coimbra, 1546), Livro de algebra em arithmetica e geometria (Antwerp, 1567), and others.

Nouatianus: Novatianus = Novatian (3rd century CE). Roman presbyter; established the dogma (originated by Novatus) of the Novatians (the Cathari); author of On the Trinity, On the food of the Jews, etc..

Olympiodorus: (5th century CE). Roman historian; author of a history of the Western Empire in 22 books, a commentary on Plato's Gorgias, and possibly a treatise on alchemy.

Oppianus: There were two authors of this name. 1. Oppian of Cilicia: (2nd century CE) Author of Halieutica, sive de piscatu, a comprehensive treatise about fish and fishing. 2. Oppian of Syria (3rd century CE). Author of De Venatione, a treatise on hunting. Both were published togther in one volume as Oppiani Poetae Cilicis De venatione lib. iiii. De piscatv lib. v. by the Plantin Press in 1597.

Optatus: (4th century CE). Saint; Bishop of Milevis, in Numidia; probably had been a pagan rhetorician; author of a work against the Donatist heresy.

Origenes: Origen (185-232 CE). Influential early Christian writer and teacher; author, according to Epiphanius, of six thousand writings; "founder" of Origenism, a term meaning not so much Origen's theology and the body of his teachings, as a certain number of doctrines, rightly or wrongly attributed to him, and which by their novelty or their danger called forth at an early period a refutation from orthodox writers.

Ortelius: Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598 CE). A cartographer and geographer; "father of modern cartography"; Resident of Antwerp and published by Plantin; author of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and the Thesaurus geographicus.

Orus: ?

Ouidius: Publius Ovidius Naso = Ovid (43 BCE - 17 CE). Roman poet; author of Amores and Ars Amatoria, and of the Metamorphoses, a work on the transformations of mostly humans and nymphs into animals and plants.

Petronius Arbiter: (1st century CE). Roman writer in the age of Nero; author of the Satirae (The Satyricon).

Petrus Garzia Galarza: ? Pedro García Galarza (16th century). Bishop of Coria in Spain.

Petrus Velleius Gueuarra: ? Pedro Vélez Guevara (16th century). Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain.

Philastrius: (4th century CE). Saint; Bishop of Brescia; St. Augustine met him at Milan about 383; composed a catalogue of heresies (Diversarum Hereseon Liber) drawn from the same source as was used by Epiphanius (ie: the lost Syntagma of Hippolytus).

Philostratus: Lucius Flavius Philostratus (ca.170 - 244/279 CE). Roman orator and sophist of Greek origin; one of several named Philostratus, all related; author of the Life of Apollonius, and the Lives of the sophists.

Phocylides: (6th century BCE). Greek gnomic poet of Miletus; only a few fragments of his "maxims" have survived.

Pierius Valerianus: Joannes Pierius Valerianus = Giovanni Pietro Dalle Fosse (1477 - 1558 CE). Italian humanist; author of an emblem book, Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Egyptorum, published in 1556, and of the De Litteratorum Infelicitate (Misfortunes of Men of Letters).

Plato: (ca. 428 - 347 BCE). Greek philosopher; student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle; author of the Republic, Apology of Socrates, Phædrus, and many others.

Plinius: Gaius Plinius Secondus = Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 CE). Roman writer; author of Naturalis Historia (Natural History), an encyclopedic work; chapters 8 - 11, on animals, and were widely quoted in medieval bestiaries.

Plutarchus: Plutarch (46 - 120 CE) Greek historian; author of Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans and a collection of essays called the Moralia.

Procopius: Procopius of Caesarea (6th century CE). Byzantine historian; author of several historical works dealing with the reign of Justinian, including the Arcana Historia (The Secret History).

Rabbi Dauid: ?

Rodolphus Flauiacensis: Radulphus (or Radulphe) Flaviacensis (or Flaicensis) (ca. 12th century CE). Benedictine monk; author of commentaries on Biblical books such as Leviticus and the Song of Songs.

Rufinus: +

Rupertus: ?

Seneca: Lucius Annaeus Seneca = Seneca the Younger (3 BCE - 65 CE). Roman philosopher from Spain; tutor to emperor Nero; author of Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, de Providentia, Apocolocyntosis, and Latin tragic dramas.

Seruius: Maurus Servius Honoratius (4th century CE). Roman grammarian and commentator on Virgil.

Silius Italicus: Titus Catius Silius Italicus (ca. 26 - 101 CE). Roman poet; author of Punica, on the Second Punic War.

Solinus: Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd century CE). Author of Collectanea rerum memorabilium, a encyclopedic description of curiosities, containing entries on history, society, religion and natural history, mostly taken from Pliny's Natural History.

Sophocles: (ca. 495 - 406 BCE). Greek tragic poet; author of Antigone, Ajax, Trachiniæ, Electra, Oedipus Tyrannus, and Oedipus at Colonus.

Stephanus: ?

Stobæus: Joannes Stobaeus (5th century CE). Compiler of an encyclopedic work consisting of a series of extracts from Greek authors, quoted from more than five hundred writers.

Strabo: (ca. 63 BCE - 24 CE). Greek historian, geographer and philosopher; author of the Geographia, a 17-book work containing history and descriptions of people and places all over the world as known to him.

Suidas: (10th century CE). Greek of Constinople; author of a Greek lexicon or encyclopedia on Greek philology, grammar, and literary history.

Tacitus: Cornelius Tacitus (1st - 2nd century CE). Roman historian; author of Germania, the Histories, the Annals of Imperial Rome, and the Agricola.

Tertullianus: Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus = Tertullian (160 - 220 CE). Roman ecclesiastical writer; author of Ad nationes, Apologeticus, and Liber de praescriptione haereticorum, plus many others.

Theodoretus: Theodoret (ca. 393 - 457 CE). Greek theologian; bishop of Cyrus; Nestorian; author of Græcarum affectionum curatio (Remedy for the diseases of the Greeks) and Historia Ecclesiastica.

Theodorus Heracliensis: ?

Theophanes Nycenus: ? (ca. 750 - 818 CE). Byzantine monk and chronicler; author of Chronagraphy, a chronicle of world events from 284 to 813.

Theophrastus: (372 - 287 BCE). Greek philosopher; successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school; author of On the History of Plants, On the Causes of Plants, History of Physics, On Stones, and On Sensation.

Thomas Aquinas: (1225 - 1274 CE). Philosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church (Angelicus Doctor); born in the Kingdom of Naples; author of the Summa theologica.

Turnebus: Adrianus Turnebus = Adrien Tournèbe (1512 - 1565 CE). French classical scholar; author of philological dissertations, commentaries (on Aeschylus, Sophocles, Theophrastus, Philo and portions of Cicero), and translations of Greek authors into Latin and French.

Varro: Marcus Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BCE). Roman scholar and writer; author of De lingua latina libri XXV (On the Latin Language) and Rerum rusticarum libri III (Agricultural Topics).

Vincentius: Vincentius Bellovacensis = Vincent Of Beauvais (ca. 1190 - 1264 CE). French scholar and pedagogue; Dominican; author of the Speculum Maius (Speculum Naturale, Speculum Doctrinale, Speculum Historiale), an encyclopedia which summarizes the scholastic knowledge on every subject of that time; the Speculum Naturale is a treatise on natural history.

Virgilius: Publius Vergilius Maro = Virgil (70 -19 BCE); Roman poet; author of the The Eclogues, Georgics, and the epic Aeneid.

Vitalis: Orderic Vitalis (1075 - 1142 CE) Chronicler and historian; author of Historia Ecclesiatica.

Xenophon: (ca. 444 - 357 BCE). ; pupil of Socrates; author of Anabasis, Hellenica, De Re Equestri (a treatise on the horse), and Cynegeticus (a treatise on hunting, and on the breeding and training of hunting dogs).