Encyclopedia

I

Introduction

Encyclopedia or Encyclopaedia, reference work that provides information on a range of subjects. Encyclopedias can encompass many areas of interest, or they can focus on a particular field of study, such as a geographic area, an ethnic group, a time period, or an academic discipline. Most encyclopedias have hundreds or thousands of articles, each addressing a distinct topic. Many of the articles contain illustrations, maps, photographs, and other media elements that help readers understand concepts. For centuries encyclopedias were published as multivolume sets of books, but in the late 20th century they appeared in new formats, such as compact disc (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD), and on the Internet.

The term encyclopedia comes from the Greek words enkyklios paideia, meaning “comprehensive education” and originally signifying instruction in all branches of knowledge, or a comprehensive education in a specific subject. This concept gave rise to the idea of collecting the materials for such instruction into a single work, in which the contents and relations of the various arts and sciences would be explained systematically. Attempts to produce books of this kind were made more than 2,000 years ago, although the name encyclopedia was not given to such works until the 16th century.

II

Early Works of General Knowledge

Early encyclopedias were intended for continuous reading and study and represented the accumulated learning of their individual authors. They were designed to serve as all-inclusive textbooks and thus differed from modern encyclopedias, which serve chiefly as reference sources and are generally the products of cooperative scholarship among many people.

A

Encyclopedias in the Ancient World

Although Greek philosopher Aristotle is sometimes referred to as the “father of encyclopedias” because of the wide range of subjects in his works and his attempts to summarize existing knowledge, the first encyclopedia is said to have been compiled in the 4th century bc by Greek philosopher Speusippus, a disciple of Greek philosopher Plato. However, no remnant of Speusippus’s work remains. The first Roman encyclopedist was Marcus Terentius Varro. His encyclopedia of the liberal arts was entitled Disciplinae (The Disciplines, 30 bc). It had nine books, one each for grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astrology, music, medicine, and architecture. None of the books has survived.

---

---

The oldest complete encyclopedia still in existence is the Historia Naturalis (Natural History, about ad 77) of Roman writer Pliny the Elder. It is an encyclopedia of natural science. The topics treated in its 37 books and 2,493 chapters include mathematical and physical descriptions of the world; anthropology and human physiology; botany, including agriculture, forestry, and horticulture; zoology; and mineralogy, together with the use of metals and precious stones in the arts. The work remained popular for almost 1,500 years.

B

Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

About the beginning of the 5th century ad, Martianus Minneus Felix Capella, a Latin writer who probably practiced law in Carthage (in what is now Tunisia), composed an encyclopedia of the seven liberal arts entitled De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, about 400). In the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) this work was highly esteemed and extensively used as a textbook. However, it has little if anything in common with modern encyclopedias. An allegory in prose and verse, the work describes the marriage of the Roman god Mercury with the “very learned maiden” Philologia (philology). In the work the various forms of learning are personified and introduced as bridesmaids. The most notable aspect of the work is the accurate statement that the planets Mercury and Venus revolve about the Sun and not around Earth. This fact was not scientifically accepted until centuries later, in the 1600s.

Another encyclopedic work held in great esteem for many centuries is the Etymologiae (Etymologies, or Origins), compiled in 623 by Spanish ecclesiastic and scholar Saint Isidore of Seville. It deals with the seven liberal arts and includes subjects such as medicine, animals, the Earth, Old Testament antiquities, grammar, war, games, ships, and buildings. In the 9th century, books 7 through 20 of Saint Isidore’s encyclopedia were rearranged in 22 books of 325 chapters and otherwise edited by Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, Germany. His manner of arrangement, beginning with God and the angels, long remained the traditional manner of arrangement in methodical encyclopedias. Rabanus presented his work to Louis II, king of Germany, in 847. It was first printed in 1473.

The most important of all the early encyclopedias is the Speculum majus (Great Mirror, 1220-1244), compiled by Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais. This work, which sums up the learning of its time, is in four parts (or mirrors) and consists of 80 books. It represents the writings of 450 Greek, Hebrew, and Roman scholars. In 1481, early in the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century), English printer and publisher William Caxton translated it and printed it as The Myrrour of the Worlde. More than any other medieval work, the Speculum majus revived interest in classical literature.

Subsequently, numerous works patterned after Vincent’s encyclopedia appeared, but few made any permanent or valuable contribution to knowledge. Italian scholar Brunetto Latini, friend and adviser of Italian poet Dante Alighieri, wrote Li livres dou trésor (The Treasure Books, 1262?-1266) while in exile in France. This work was written in French in order to gain a wider audience than was possible using Latin, which until this time had dominated encyclopedic writing. The work was an enormous, scholarly compendium with a unique section treating the political history of the Italian republics of the 13th century.

In 1559 the Encyclopaedia; seu, Orbis Disciplinarum, tam Sacrarum quam Prophanum Epistemon … of German writer Paul Scalich was published. This survey of the entire circle of science, “sacred and profane,” represented the first use of the term encyclopedia.

All these early compilations of knowledge and many of their successors were unsystematic or even chaotic in form and crude in substance. The problem of coordinating or systematizing all the branches of science remained a challenge until modern times.

In 1620 English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon organized a structure for his Instauratio Magna (The Great Reconstruction), which was intended to constitute an encyclopedia of all knowledge. It has been considered the first of the attempts made with adequate method and genuine philosophic organization, but Bacon never completed the project.

	More from Encarta
	•  Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be discontinued. Learn more. •  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain