Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the works of Cato the Elder and Marcus Terentius Varro, both of which he occasionally cites. A smaller book on trees, ', is usually attributed to him. In 1794 the Spanish botanists José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Hipólito Ruiz López named a genus of Peruvian asterid ''

Columellia ''Columellia'' is a group of plant species in the Columelliaceae described as a genus in 1794. ''Columellia'' is native to the Andes Mountains of western South America ( Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia).Serrano, M. & J. Terán. 1998 000 Tr ...

'' in his honour.

Personal life

Little is known of Columella's life. He was probably born in Gades, Hispania Baetica (modern Cádiz), possibly to Roman parents. After a career in the army (he was tribune in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 35), he turned to farming his estates at Ardea,

Carseoli Carsoli (Marsicano: ') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo (central Italy). The ancient Roman city lies southwest of the modern town. History The ancient city, known as ''Carsioli'' (or ''Carseoli''), was founded in the ...

, and Alba in Latium.

''De re rustica''

In ancient times, Columella's work "appears to have been but little read", cited only by Pliny the Elder,

Servius Servius is the name of: * Servius (praenomen), the personal name * Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian * Servius Tullius, the Roman king * Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist See ...

, Cassiodorus, and Isidorus, and having fallen "into almost complete neglect" after Palladius published an abridgement of it. This book is presented as advice to a certain Publius Silvinus. Previously known only in fragments, the complete book was among those discovered in monastery libraries in Switzerland and France by Poggio Bracciolini and his assistant Bartolomeo di Montepulciano during the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

, between 1414 and 1418. Structure of ' ("On Rural Affairs"): * soils * viticulture *

fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particula ...

* olive trees *big animals: cattle,

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

and

mules A mule is the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey. Mule, Mules, MULE or The Mule can also refer to: Animals * Mule (sheep), in British sheep farming, a cross between a meat ram and a hardy mountain ewe * Mule deer (''Odocoileus hemio ...

*small animals: asses, sheep, goats, pigs,

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

*fish and fowl:

chickens The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

, doves, thrushes, peacocks, Numidian chicken and guineafowl, geese,

ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

fish ponds Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

*wild animals: enclosures for wild animals,

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

, production of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

and wax * gardens *personnel management * calendars * household management Book 10 is written entirely in dactylic hexameter verse, in imitation of, or homage to, Virgil. It may initially have been intended to be the concluding volume, books 11 and 12 being perhaps an addition to the original scheme. A complete, but anonymous, translation into English was published by

Andrew Millar Andrew Millar (17058 June 1768) was a British publisher in the eighteenth century. Biography In 1725, as a twenty-year-old bookseller apprentice, he evaded Edinburgh city printing restrictions by going to Leith to print, which was considered be ...

in 1745. Excerpts had previously been translated by Richard Bradley.

''De arboribus''

The short work ', "On Trees", is in manuscripts and early editions of Columella considered as book 3 of '. However, it is clear from the opening sentences that it is part of a separate and possibly earlier work. As the anonymous translator of the Millar edition notes, in ' there is no mention of the Publius Silvinus to whom the ' is addressed. A recent critical edition of the Latin text of the ' includes it, but as ', by an unknown hand. Cassiodorus mentions sixteen books of Columella, which has led to the suggestion that ' formed part of a work in four volumes.

Sources

In addition to Cato the Elder and Varro, Columella used many sources that are no longer extant and for which he is one of the few references. These include works by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

writer Mago,

Tremellius Scrofa {{short description, List of several related Roman men Tremellius Scrofa (sometimes, less properly, spelled Tremelius and Scropha) was the name of several related Roman men, among whom: :Lucius Tremellius Scrofa, quaestor in 143 BC, who served as a ...

, and many Greek sources. His uncle Marcus Columella, "a clever man and an exceptional farmer" (VII.2.30), had conducted experiments in

sheep breeding Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin a ...

, crossing colourful wild rams, introduced from Africa for gladiatorial games, with domestic sheep, and may have influenced his nephew's interests. Columella owned farms in Italy; he refers specifically to estates at Ardea, Carseoli, and Alba, and speaks repeatedly of his own practical experience in agriculture.

Principal early editions

The earliest editions of Columella group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Palladius. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "" or "". * ' ome: Printer of Silius Italicus, (book X only) * Georgius Merula, Franciscus Colucia (eds.) ' Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472. * ''Lucii Iunii Moderati Columellae de Cultu hortorum Liber .xi. quem .Pub. Virgilius .M. i Georgicis Posteris edendum dimisit.'' adova D minicusS liprandus

a. 1480 A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of ...

* Opera Agricolationum: Columellæ: Varronis: Catonisque: nec non Palladii: cū excriptionibus .D. Philippi Beroaldi: & commentariis quæ in aliis impressionibus non extāt''. Impensis Benedicti hectoris: Bonon., xiii. calen. octob.

9 Sept. 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

1494 * Beroaldo, Filippo "il vecchio" ''Oratio de felicitate habita in enarratione Georgicon Virgilii et Columellae'' Bononiae: per Ioannemantonium De Benedictis, 1507 * ''Lucii Junii moderati Columell ede cultu hortorum carme : Necno tPalladius de arboru insitione una cu Nicolai Barptholomaei Lochensis hortulo.'' Parisiis: Venundantur parisiis in aedibus Radulphi Laliseau rinted by Jean Marchant

512 __NOTOC__ Year 512 ( DXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus and Moschianus (or, less frequently, year ...

(poetry sections only) * Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus ''Columella De cultu ortorum. Interprete Pio Bononiensi''. Impressum Bononiae: a Hieronymo de Benedictis bibliopola et calcographo, 1520 mense Augusto * ''Libri De Re Rustica...Additis Nuper Commentariis Iunii Pompo. Fortunati in Librum De Cultu Hortorum, Cum Adnotationibus Philippi Beroaldi...'' Florence: Filippo Giunta, 1521 * ''De re rustica libri XII. Euisdem de Arboris liber, separatus ab aliis''. Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1541 * Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus ''De l'agricoltura libri XII. / Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella. Trattato de gli alberi, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro Modonese'' In Venetia: ichele Tramezzino il vecchio 1544 * ''Les Douze livres des choses rustiques. Traduicts de Latin en François, par feu maistre Claude Cotereau Chanoine de Paris. La traduction duquel ha esté soingneusement reveue & en la plupart corrigée, & illustrée de doctes annotations par maistre Jean Thierry de Beauvoisis'' Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1551, 1555 * Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus ''Les douze liures ... des choses rustiques, tr. par C. Cotereau. La tr. corrigée & illustrée de doctes annotations par J. Thiery de Beauoisis'' Paris, 1555 * Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatu
''Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella De l'agricoltura libri XII. Trattato de gli alberi del medesimo, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro modonese''
In Venetia: per Geronimo Caualcalouo, 1559 ** Reprinted
In Venetia: appresso Nicolò Beuilacqua, 1564
* Orsini, Fulvio ''Notae ad M. Catonem, M. Varronem, L. Columellam de re rustica. Ad kalend. rusticum Farnesianum & veteres inscriptiones Fratrum Arvalium. Iunius Philargyrius in Bucolica & Georgica Virgilij. Notae ad Servium in Bucol. Georg. & Aeneid. Virg. Velius Longus de orthographia : ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini'' Romae: in aedib. S.P.Q.R. apud Georgium Ferrarium, 1587 * Bradley, Richard ''A Survey of the Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil, and others, the most eminent writers among the Greeks & Romans: wherein many of the most difficult passages in those authors are explain'd ... Adorn'd with cuts, etc.'' London: B. Motte, 1725 * Gesner, Johann Matthias (ed.) ''Scriptores Rei Rusticae veteres Latini Cato, Varro, Columella, Palladius, quibus nunc accedit Vegetius de Mulo-Medicina et Gargilii Martialis fragmentum (Ausoni Popinæ De instrumento fundi liber. J. B. Morgagni epist. IV.) cum editionibus prope omnibus et MSS. pluribus collati: adjectae notae virorum clariss, integræ ... et lexicon Rei Rusticae curante Io. Matthia Gesnero'' Lipsiae: sumtibus Caspari Fritsch, 1735
full text
* Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (trans. Anon.)
L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry, in Twelve Books: and his book, concerning Trees. Translated into English, with illustrations from Pliny, Cato, Varro, Palladius and other ancient and modern authors
' London: A. Millar, 1745

References

External links

Works by Columella at Perseus Digital Library

at The Latin Library
Books I‑IV in English translation
at LacusCurtius {{DEFAULTSORT:Columella AD 4 births 70 deaths 1st-century Romans 1st-century writers Ancient Roman writers Silver Age Latin writers Geoponici Moderatus Columella, Lucius People from Cádiz Romans from Hispania Hispania Baetica Viticulture 1st-century agronomists