Rose George

An old Encyclopaedia Britannica is a work to cherish

It may have been eclipsed as reference material, but it’s still a valuable indication of the general knowledge of past generations

[Alamy] 
issue 03 September 2022

Two thousand years ago, a young Cilician named Oppian, wanting to rehabilitate his disgraced father, decided to write Halieutica, an account of the world of fishes, as a gift for Marcus Aurelius. It was a mixture of possible fact and definite fiction – if only there were octopuses that climb trees and fishes that fancy goats – and it was a success.

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