Paradoxographoi

Paradoxographoi (Greek παραδοξογράφοι) or paradoxographies are ancient list-like collections of wonderful facts. The name itself does not come from antiquity, but, according to initial evidence in the twelfth century, only became a collective name for the genus in the nineteenth century.

Paradoxographic writings are an ancient genre of literature . Callimachus is considered to be the inventor of the genus . Many paradoxographies are anonymous or pseudepigraphic writings. The latter applies, for example, to the writing ascribed to Aristotle Περὶ θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων ("About things that are wonderful to hear"). The former include the anonymous collections of excerpts from older paradoxographies: Paradoxographus Florentinus, Vaticanus, and Palatinus.

Paradoxographic writings are thereby of z. For example, mythological writings differentiate that their authors assume that the reported extraordinary events or circumstances (the "mirabilia") are strange, but empirical facts. In terms of content, animal and water piracy predominate, but there are also reports on (from the author's point of view) remarkable peculiarities of foreign peoples.

literature

• Konrat Ziegler : Paradoxographoi . In Paulys Real-Encyclopedia of Classical Classical Studies . Vol. 18.3. Stuttgart 1949, Col. 1137-1166.
• Otta Wenskus , Lorraine Daston: Paradoxographoi . In: The New Pauly . Vol. 9. Stuttgart 2000, Col. 309-314.