The Major Works (English Library)

by Sir Thomas Browne

  Geber (fl. 721–776): Arabian alchemist

  Gemistus Plethon (c. 1355–c. 1450): Byzantine Platonist, influential in Renaissance Florence

  Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100–1154): British inventive historian

  George, St: patron saint of England

  George, David: see Joris

  Germanicus (15 B.C.-A.D. 19): Roman general, adopted son of Tiberius (q.v.)

  Gesner(us), Konrad (1516–1565): Swiss naturalist, author of History of Animals

  Geta: Roman emperor (211–212)

  Gigas: see next entry

  Giggei, Antonio (d. 1632): Italian orientalist, gave Aldrovandi (q.v.) a piece of peacock’s flesh that was six years old

  Giovio, Paolo (1530?5–1585?): Italian Latin poet

  Giraldi, Giglio (1479–1552): Italian poet and archaeologist

  Giraldus Cambrensis (1147–c. 1223): Welsh historian

  Goliah: see next entry

  Goliath: the Philistine giant killed by David (see 1 Samuel 17)

  Gomesius, Bernardinus: author of Diascepseon de sale (1605)

  Gordianus: Roman emperor (238–244)

  Goropius: see Becanus

  Gregory XV: Pope (1621–1623)

  Grotius, Hugo (1563–1645): Dutch scholar, statesman, authority on international law

  Gruterus, Janus (d. 1607): Dutch scholar and educator

  Guagninus, Alexander (1548?–1614): Italian historian

  Guellius, Valentinus: annotator of Virgil (1575)

  Guevara, Antonio de (1490–1544): Spanish chronicler and moralist

  Gyraldus: see Giraldus

  Habakkuk (Habbacuc): Hebrew prophet who also figures in the apocryphal Bel and the Dragon (33–39); also the homonymous Biblical book

  Hades: the abode of the dead; also the ruler of the underworld (cf. Pluto)

  Hadrian: Roman emperor (117–138)

  Halicarnasseus: see Herodotus

  Ham: the youngest son of Noah (q.v.), regarded as forefather of the Egyptians

  Hannibal (247–183 B.C.): the Carthaginian general who invaded Italy

  Harald: i.e. Haraldr Hilditöhn(Wartooth), the semi-historical Danish king killed c. 775 by Ringo (q.v.)

  Harpalus (d. 324? B.C.): Macedonian general and satrap of Babylonia

  Harvey, William (1578–1657): English physician and naturalist, discovered the circulation of the blood

  Hector: the foremost Trojan warrior, killed by Achilles (q.v.)

  Hecuba: queen of Troy, mother of Hector

  Helena, St (c. 255–c. 330): mother of Constantine the Great, reputed to have discovered the Cross

  Heliogabalus: Roman emperor (218–222)

  Helmont, Jean Baptiste van (1577–1644): Flemish physician and chemist

  Henry II: king of England (1154–1189)

  Henry III: king of England (1216–1272)

  Henry VIII: king of England (1509–1547)

  Heraclitus (6th/5th cent. B.C.): the Greek ‘weeping philosopher’

  Hercules (Heracles): the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, completed the twelve ‘labours’ imposed by Juno

  Hermes: see Mercury

  Hermes surnamed Trismegistus (‘the thrice-greatest’): legendary author of Greek and Latin religious and philosophical writings

  Hermias (fl. 350 B.C.): tyrant of Atarneus and patron of Aristotle

  Hernandes, Francisco (1530–1587): Spanish physician and naturalist

  Herod the Great: king of the Jews (37–4 B.C.)

  Herodias: the second wife of Herod Antipas son of Herod the Great (see Mark 6.1 ff.)

  Herodotus (484–425 B.C.): Greek historian

  Herostratus: who in 356 B.C. burnt the Temple of Diana (q.v.) to make his name immortal

  Hesiod (fl. 859–824 B.C.): Greek epic poet

  Hester: see Esther

  Heurnius, Johannes van (1543–1601): Dutch physician and writer

  Hevelius Johann (1611–1687): German astronomer

  Hierusalem: i.e. Jerusalem

  Hippocrates (460?–377? B.C.): Greek physician, ‘the Father of Medicine’

  Hippolytus, St (c. 170–c. 236): theologian of the Latin Church

  Hippon (5th cent. B.C.): Greek philosopher

  Hofmann(us), Caspar (15 72–1648): German physician and prolific writer

  Holinshed Raphael (d. c. 1580): English chronicler

  Holland, Philemon (1552–1637): English translator

  Homer: understood as author of the two epics and the ‘Homeric’ hymns

  Horace (65–8 B.C.): Roman poet

  Horto Garcias ab: see Orta

  Horus: the Egyptian god of the sun, son of Osiris and Isis (q.v.), often conflated with Hermes Trismegistus (q.v.)

  Howell, James (1594?–1 666): English pamphleteer and letter-writer

  Hubert, St (d. c. 727); Bishop of Maestricht and Liége

  Hucher(i) us, Joannes: French physician of Montpellier, author of De sterilitate (1610)

  Hugo, Johannes (fl. early 16th cent.): German humanist

  Humbert, St: see Hubert

  Huss, John (c. 1369–1415): Bohemian Reformer, burnt at the stake

  Hutter, Elias (1553–1607?): German orientalist and Biblical scholar

  Hyacinth: the youth beloved of Apollo; also the flower

  Hydra: the nine-headed serpent slain by Hercules (q.v.)

  Ibrahim Pasha: Ottoman grand vizier (1523–1536) under Suleiman (q.v.)

  Icarus: escaping with his father Daedalus from Crete, flew close to the sun and fell to his death

  Ignatius, St (c. 35–c. 107): Bishop of Antioch and author

  Iphicrates (419?-348? B.C.): Athenian general

  Iris: the goddess of the rainbow; also the flower

  Irus: the beggar of Ithaca (Odyssey, XVIII)

  Isaac: Hebrew patriarch (see Genesis 21–28)

  Isidore, St (c. 560–636): Archbishop of Seville, encyclopedic scholar

  Isis: the Egyptian goddess of fertility, sister and wife of Osiris (q.v.)

  Ixion: the Centaurs’ father, bound on a constantly revolving wheel on aspiring to love Juno (q.v.)

  Jacob (Israel): Hebrew patriarch (see Genesis 25–49)

  Jair: the eighth judge of Israel (see Judges 10.3–5)

  Janus: the patron god of beginnings and endings, represented with two faces; the doors of his temple in Rome were open in wartime, closed in peacetime

  Jeffery, John: Archdeacon of Norwich (1694–1720)

  Jehoram: king of Judah, son of Jehoshaphat (see 2 Chronicles 21.1 ff.)

  Jenny, Sir Arthur: one of Browne’s patients (see K, III, 301)

  Jephthah: a ‘judge’ of Israel (see Judges 11.30 ff.)

  Jeremiah (7th cent. B.C.): Hebrew prophet, accepted as author of homonymous Biblical book and of the Lamentations

  Jeremy: see previous entry

  Jerome, St (c. 342–420): scholar, translator of the Bible (Vulgate), Doctor of the Church

  Joan: the mythical Pope: see p. 258

  Job: protagonist of the homonymous Biblical book, personification of patience

  John the Baptist, St: the forerunner of Christ

  John the Evangelist: accepted as the author of the Fourth Gospel, the Book of Revelation, and three of the Catholic Epistles

  John Chrysostom, St (c. 347–407): Patriarch of Constantinople, Father of the Church

  John Ernest: Duke of Saxony (1594–1626)

  Johnstonus: see Jonston

  Jonah: Hebrew ‘prophet’ who sojourned in the whale’s belly and so a type of the Resurrection; also the homonymous Biblical book

  Jonas: see previous entry

  Jonathan: Saul’s eldest son, David’s close friend (see 1 Samuel 18–20)

  Jones, Inigo (1573–1652): architect and stage designer

  Jonston (Johnstone), John (1603–1675): Scottish naturalist

  Jordandes (or Jordanes, 6th cent.): historian of the Goths

  Joris, David (Jan Jorisz, c. 1501–1556): Anabaptist extremist

  Joseph: Hebrew patr
iarch (see Genesis 30, 37–50)

  Joseph, St: the husband of the Virgin Mary

  Josephus, Flavius (38?-100?): Jewish historian

  Joshua: the successor of Moses (q.v.), conqueror of Palestine

  Josuah: see previous entry

  Joubert, Laurent (1529–15 82): French medical writer, author of Erreurs populaires et propos vulgaires touchant la medicine et le régime de santé (1579; Latin trans., De vulgi erroribus, 1600)

  Jove: see Jupiter

  Jovius, Paulus: see Giovio

  Judah: the fourth son of Jacob (q.v.); also the most powerful of Israel’s twelve tribes

  Julian ‘the Apostate’: Eastern Roman emperor (361–363), attempted to restore paganism

  Julius Caesar: see Caesar

  Juno (Hera): queen of the Olympian gods, wife of Jupiter

  Jupiter (Zeus): the supreme Olympian god; also the planet

  Justin (3rd cent.?): Roman historian

  Justin Martyr, St (c. 100–c. 165): Christian apologist

  Juvenal (c. 60–c. 140): Roman lawyer and satirist

  Keck, Thomas: see below, p. 552

  Kepler, Johann (1571–1630): the great German astronomer

  Kircher, Athanasius (1602–1680): German mathematician and scholar

  Kirchmann, Johannes (1575–1643): German antiquary

  Knolles, Richard (1550?–1610): English historian of the Turks

  Lactantius (c. 240 – c. 320): Christian apologist: see p. 78, note 93

  Laertes: the father of Ulysses (q.v.)

  Laertius: see Diogenes Laertius

  Lamia: a female man-devouring monster

  Lamia (4th cent. B.C.): Athenian courtesan

  Lampridius Aelius (fl. 300): Roman historian

  Largus, Scribonius (fl. 47): Roman physician

  Laurenberg, Peter (1585–1639): German botanist and anatomist

  Lazarus: the intimate friend of Jesus who raised him from the dead (see John 11.1–44)

  Lazarus: the beggar in the parable (see Luke 16.20 ff.)

  Lazius, Wolfgang (1514–1565): Austrian physician and historian

  Leandro: see Alberti

  Leeuwenhoek, Antony van (1632–1723): Dutch microscopist

  Le Gros, Thomas: see p. 263, note 1.

  Leo: the constellation between Cancer and Virgo

  Leo III: Pope (795–816)

  Leo IV, St: Pope (847–855)

  Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici): Pope (1513–1521)

  Leo XI: Pope (1605)

  Leo the Jew: see Abrabanel

  Leon of Modena (1571–1648): Jewish scholar and rabbi

  Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Italian painter, scientist, natural philosopher, etc.

  Lepidus (d. c. 77 B.C.): Roman triumvir

  Leuenhoek: see Leeuwenhoek

  Lewis: see Louis

  Licinius: Roman emperor (308–324)

  Linden, Johannes A. van der (1609–1664): Dutch physician and writer

  Linschoten, Jan Hugh van (1563–1611): Dutch traveller and author

  Lipsius, Justus (1547–1606): Flemish scholar

  Livy (59 B.C.–A.D. 17): Roman historian

  Lombard, Peter: see Peter Lombard

  Lopes, Eduardo (late 16th cent.): Spanish (or Portuguese) explorer and author

  Lot: Abraham’s nephew who fled Sodom; his wife glanced back and was turned into a pillar of salt (see Genesis 19)

  Louis I le Débonnaire: king of Aquitaine (from 781), and emperor (813–833, 835–840)

  Louis II: king of Hungary (1516–1526)

  Louis XI: king of France (1461–1483)

  Loveday, Robert: see p. 389 (headnote)

  Lucan (39–65): Roman poet

  Lucian (c. 120–200): Greek satirist

  Lucifer: Satan’s name (‘light-bearer’) before his expulsion from Heaven

  Lucilius (180–102 B.C.): Roman poet, creator of satire

  Lucina: the Roman goddess of childbirth

  Lucretius (96?–55 B.C.): Roman poet and philosopher

  Ludovicus Pius: see Louis I

  Luna: i.e. the moon

  Luther, Martin (1483–1546): founder of the German Reformation

  Lycosthenes (Konrad Wolffhart, 1518–1561): Swiss philosopher and theologian

  Lycurgus: according to tradition, the foremost Spartan lawgiver

  Lyser(us), Michael (fl. mid 17th cent.): German physician and writer

  Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527): Florentine statesman and political philosopher

  Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius (fl. 395–423): Roman philosopher and grammarian

  Magasthenes: see Megasthenes

  Magdalen: see Mary Magdalen

  Maginus (Giovanni Magini, 1555–1617): Italian mathematician

  Magius, Hieronymus (Girolamo Maggi, 1523–1572): Italian engineer and author

  Mahomet: see Mohammed

  Maimonides, Moses (1135–1204): Jewish philosopher

  Mammon: the false god of riches

  Manasseh (Manasses): Joseph’s eldest son (see Genesis 41.51); also the tribe

  Mandelslo, Johann Albrecht von (1616–1644): German traveller and author

  Manlius: Titus Manlius Torquatus, who had his son beheaded (Livy, VIII, 7)

  Mantuan: see Virgil

  Marcellus (268?-208 B.C.): Roman general and statesman

  Marcus: see next entry

  Marcus Aurelius: Roman emperor (161–180) and author

  Marius (2nd cent.): Christian martyr

  Marius, Gaius (155?-86 B.C.): Roman general and statesman

  Mark Antony (83?–30 B.C.): Roman general and triumvir

  Marlianus, Joannes Bartholomaeus (1490?–1560?): Milanese antiquary

  Mars (Ares): Olympian god of war; also the planet

  Martial (fl. 1st cent.): Roman writer of epigrams

  Martialis, St (fl. 2nd cent.): first bishop of Limoges

  Martinus Polonus (d. 1278): chronicler

  Martyr, Peter: see Peter Martyr

  Mary Magdalen, St: a follower of Christ who cast out of her ‘seven devils’ (Luke 8.2)

  Mathiolus: see Mattioli

  Matilda (1102–1167): queen of England and empress

  Matthew of Miechów (1475–1523): Polish historian

  Matthias: German emperor (1612–1619)

  Mattioli, Pietro Andrea (1500–1577): Sienese physician and botanist

  Maud: see Matilda

  Mauricius: Byzantine emperor (582–602)

  Mausolus: king of Caria, buried (353 B.C.) in a splendid monument erected by Artemisia (q.v.)

  Medea: sorceress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece

  Megasthenes (fl. c. 300 B.C.): Greek geographer and historian

  Mela, Pomponius (1st cent.): Latin geographer

  Melissa: wife of Periander (q.v.)

  Menoeceus: the hero self-killed for his country’s welfare (Statius, Thebaid, X)

  Menoeceus: the recipient of the letter of Epicurus (q.v.)

  Mercurialis (Girolamo Mercuriale, 1530–1606): Italian physician and scholar

  Mercurii (Girolamo Mercurio, 1550?–1615): Italian physician, author of De gli errori popolari d’Italia (1603)

  Mercurius: see next entry

  Mercury (Hermes): Olympian god of commerce, eloquence, etc.; also the planet

  Mersenne, Marin (1588–1648): French mathematician and scholar

  Metellus, L. Caecilius (d. 221 B.C.): Roman dictator

  Methuselah: patriarch, died aged 969 (see Genesis 5.27)

  Metrophanes (9th cent.): Bishop of Smyrna and theologian

  Michelangelo (1475–1564): Italian sculptor, painter, poet

  Michovius, Matthaeus: see Matthew of Miechów

  Minerva (Athena): Olympian goddess of wisdom

  Minutius Felix (fl. c. 270): Roman rhetor

  Miszraim: see next entry

  Mizraim: the second son of Ham (see Genesis 10.6)

  Modena: see Leon of Modena

  Mohammed (570–632): Arabian prophet, founder of I
slam

  Moloch: a Phoenician-Ammonite god to whom children were sacrificed by burning

  Montacutius (Richard Montague, 1577–1641): English scholar and theologian, Bishop of Norwich from 1638

  Montanus, Arnoldus (fl. 1657–1683): Dutch miscellaneous writer

  More, Henry, the Cambridge Platonist (1614–1687): English philosopher

  Morpheus: the god of dreams, son of the god of sleep

  Morta: see p. 397, note 34

  Moses: the founder and lawgiver of Israel, accepted as the author of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy)

  Moses Bar-Cepha (c. 813–903): Syrian bishop and Biblican scholar

  Muffetus (Thomas Moffett, 1553–1604): English physician and author

  Murad IV: Ottoman emperor (1623–1640)

  Mustapha I: Ottoman emperor (1617–1618, 1622–1623)

  Nabuchodonosor: see Nebuchadnezzar

  Naphthali: the sixth son of Jacob (see Genesis 49.21); also the tribe

  Narses (478?-573): Byzantine general and statesman

  Nebuchadnezzar II: king of Babylon (605–562 B.C.)

  Nebuchodonosor: see previous entry

  Nemesis: the Greek goddess of vengeance: see p. 423, note 25

  Nero: Roman emperor (54–68)

  Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1717): English mathematician and scientist

  Nicephorus: obscure Byzantine writer on dreams: cf. Artemidorus

  Nicholas of Damascus (1st cent. B.C.): Greek historian

  Nieremberg, Juan (1595–1658): Spanish mystic

  Nimrod: legendary founder of the Assyrian Empire (see Genesis 10.8–10)

  Ninus: legendary founder of Nineveh

  Nirembergius: see Nieremberg

  Noah: tenth in descent from Adam; father of Shem, Ham and Japheth

  Numa Pompilius: the legendary second king of Rome

  Octavian: see Augustus

  Oedipus: noted for solving riddles; became king of Thebes on murdering his father and marrying his mother

  Og: the giant king of Bashan (see Deuteronomy 3.11)

  Olaus Magnus (1490–1558): Swedish historian

  Oleaster, Hieronymus (d. 1563): Portuguese Biblical commentator

  Olmo, Giovanni (late 16th cent.): Italian physician and writer

  Olympias (d. 316 B.C.): mother of Alexander the Great

  Ophir: famous for its gold (1 Kings 10.11, Isaiah 13.12, etc.)

  Opimius (d. 100? B.C.): Roman consul

  Oppianus of Apameia (fl. c. 210): Greek poet

  Orcus: the underworld (see Hades)

  Orestes: son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, murdered her and her lover Aegisthus

  Origen (c. 185–c. 254): Alexandrian Biblical scholar and theologian