Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella | |
---|---|
![]() Portrait of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella by Jean de Tournes (Insignium aliquot virorum icones, Lyon, 1559) | |
Born | 4 AD Gades, Hispania Baetica |
Died | c. 70 AD |
Citizenship | Roman |
Notable works | De re rustica |
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (/ˌkɒljəˈmɛlə/, Arabic: Yunius[1]: 12 ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.[2]
His De re rustica in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and cuisine, together with the works of Cato the Elder and Marcus Terentius Varro, both of which he occasionally cites. A smaller book on trees, De arboribus, is usually attributed to him.
In 1794 the Spanish botanists José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Hipólito Ruiz López named a genus of Peruvian asterid Columellia in his honour.[3]