Late Antique Historiography

Book of wonders

Title(s):
  • Book of wonders
  • Ab anno Urbis conditae quingentesimo quinto prodigiorum liber
    (Ab anno urbis conditae quingentesimo quinto prodigiorum liber, The books of wonders from the 505th year of the city's foundation)
  • Liber prodigiorum
    (Liber prodigiorum, Book of wonders)
Author:
Period covered:
249-11 B.C.
Language:
Latin
State of Preservation:
Partial
Genre:
  • Secular history (antiquarianism)
  • Astronomy & astrology
Remarks:
The codex used by Aldo Manutius to edit the Book of wonders got lost. No other manuscript evidence survives (Reynolds 1983: 196). As the title shows, the work of Obsequens began with the year 249 B.C. That means that we miss the first part of the book (from 249 B.C. to 191 B.C.).
Edition - Translation:
  • O. Rossbach (1910) T. Livi periochae omnium librorum: Fragmenta Oxyrhynchi reperta, Iulii Obsequentis Prodigiorum liber. Leipzig.
  • S. Boncompagni (1992) Giulio Ossequente: Il Libro dei prodigi. Rome.
  • P. Mastandrea (2005) Prodigi: Giulio Ossequente. Milan.
  • A. Moure Casas (1990) Julio Obsecuente: Libro de los Prodigios (restituido a su integridad, en beneficio de la Historia, por Conrado Licóstenes). Madrid.
  • A.C. Schlesinger (1959) Livy. Volume Fourteen: Summaries, fragments, and obsequens. London - Cambridge (MA).
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • A. Berger, J. Fontaine, P.L. Schmidt (2020) Handbuch der Lateinischen Literatur. Sechster Band: Die Literatur im Zeitalter des Theodosius. Erster Teil: Fachprosa, Dichtung, Kunstprosa. Munich: 578-580.
  • S. Rocca (1978) Iulii Obsequentis Lexicon. Genova.
  • C. Santini (1988) 'Letteratura prodigiale e "sermo prodigialis" in Giulio Ossequente'. Philologus 132: 210-226.
  • P.L. Schmidt (1968) Julius Obsequens und das Problem der Livius-Epitome: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der lateinischen Prodigienliteratur. Wiesbaden.