Aristotelian Zoology in the First and Second Centuries CE

This article argues that there was active participation in Aristotle’s biological research program in the first and second centuries CE. No zoological literature survives from this period, which has led to the general assumption that there was no meaningful engagement with Aristotelian zoology until as late as the thirteenth century. However, drawing primarily on the work of Apuleius and Galen, I argue that there is sufficient evidence descriptive of zoological activity to indicate that there was a robust understanding of and engagement with zoological research along an Aristotelian model in these centuries despite the lack of any surviving written work.