De Alpibus commentarius

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De Alpibus commentarius

De Alpibus commentarius ("Commentary of the Alps") is considered to be the oldest description of the Alps in Latin. It was written by the Swiss theologian and historian Josias Simler and printed by Froschauer in Zurich in 1574 .

Author and sources

Kappel Monastery and the Alps

In his childhood and youth in Kappel am Albis, Simler had the panorama of the Glarus , Uri and Bernese Alps on his doorstep. Later he was unable to travel to look around because of gout. He had to draw his information from literary sources. In chapters 6 to 13 he relied on the one hand on the ancient classics such as Polybios , Livius , Pliny , Silius Italicus and much more, and on the other hand on contemporary Swiss humanists such as Glarean , Johannes Stumpf , Aegidius Tschudi , Conrad Gessner , etc.

plant

The “Commentary of the Alps” is a first attempt to give an overview of the natural and cultural history of the Alps and their individual mountain ranges. It is a collection of experiences from Swiss scientists that they gained personally in the Alps. An abundance of quotes from the classical tradition underlines the humanistic orientation of the text.

The work was originally intended as a general introduction to a description of all Swiss cantons . Its first part would have started with the canton of Valais , which is now the only one to appear in the "Alpenkommentar". Simmler had to drop the entire work.

content

  • Preface
  • Geographical and basic information about the Alps: 1. Designation 2. Extension 3. First development 4. Alpine crossings 5. Hannibal's Alpine crossing
  • Representation of the Alpine arc according to individual mountain groups from east to west (traffic geography): 6. Maritime Alps 7. Cottian Alps 8. Graian Alps 9. Pennine Alps 10. High Alps 11. Lepontine Alps 12. Rhaetian Alps 13. Julian Alps and Slovenian Alps
  • Cultural and natural history of the Alps: 14. Alpine journeys and dangers 15. Mountain tribes 16. Alpine waters 17. Crystals and metals 18. Alpine trees 19. Alpine shrubs and herbs 20. Alpine animals

Editions and translations

  • Vallesiae descriptio, libri duo. De Alpibus commentarius , Iosia Simlero auctore… Tiguri excudebat Ch. Froschoverus. 1574
  • Iosiae Simleri: Vallesiae et Alpium descriptio , Lugduni Batavorum, ex officina Elzeviriana. 1633
  • Iosiae Simleri: Vallesiae descriptio, libri duo . Iosiae Simleri commentarius de Alpibus, in: Thesaurus historiae Helveticae…, Tiguri, literis Conrad Orelli et sociorum. MDCCXXXV
  • William August Brevoort Coolidge : Josias Simler et les origines de l'alpinisme jusqu'en 1600 , Grenoble 1904 (edition, French translation, annotations)
  • Alfred Steinitzer, Society of Alpine Book Friends: Josias Simler: De Alpibus commentarius. Die Alpen, Munich 1931 (only German translation and annotations, richly illustrated)

literature

  • Martin Korenjak: The Alps as a research object: Josias Simmler's De Alpibus commentarius . Manuscript of the speech at the 15th Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (IANLS), Münster August 10, 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Martin Korenjak: The Alps as a research object: Josias Simmler's De Alpibus commentarius. ( neolatin.lbg.ac.at PDF).
  2. ↑ Paths led through many parts of the Alps
  3. ^ Martin Korenjak: Editions of the Commentarius. ( neolatin.lbg.ac.at PDF).