AELIAN

born c. 170, , Praeneste, near Rome [now in Italy] died c. 235 Latin in full Claudius Aelianus Roman author and teacher of rhetoric, who spoke and wrote so fluently in Greek-in which language his works were written-that he was nicknamed "Meliglottos" ("Honey-tongued"). Aelian was an admirer and student of the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Plutarch, Homer, and others, and his own works preserve many excerpts from earlier writers. Aelian is chiefly remembered for his On the Nature of Animals, curious stories of birds and other animals, often in the form of anecdote, folklore, or fable that points a moral. This work set a pattern that continued in bestiaries and medical treatises through the Dark Ages. His Various History relates anecdotes of men and customs and miraculous events. Fragments of other works survive.