On Marvellous Things Heard (Ancient Greek:Περὶ θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων;Latin:De mirabilibus auscultationibus), often calledMirabilia,[1] is a collection of thematically arranged anecdotesformerly attributed to Aristotle. The material included in the collection mainly deals with the natural world (e.g., plants, animals, minerals, weather, geography).[2] The work consists of 178 chapters and is an example of theparadoxography genre of literature.[3]
According to the revised Oxford translation ofThe Complete Works of Aristotle this treatise's "spuriousness has never been seriously contested".[4] It was denied byDesiderius Erasmus in his edition of theCorpus Aristotelicum in 1531.[1]
On Marvellous Things Heard was translated into Latin three times during theMiddle Ages: first byBartolomeo da Messina in the 13th century, then in the 14th century byLeontius Pilatus and finally in the 15th century by thehumanistAntonio Beccaria [it].[5] The first edition of the Greek text was anincunabulum printed byAldo Manuzio in 1497.[6] Four Latin translations appeared in the 16th century based on printed editions (two anonymous, two by Domenico Montesoro andNatale Conti).[7]
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