Solinus, Caius Julius°

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SOLINUS, CAIUS JULIUS°

SOLINUS, CAIUS JULIUS ° (third century c.e.), Latin grammarian who wrote a work containing geographical and historical tidbits culled from earlier authors. He paraphrased *Pliny the Elder on Judea (Natural History, 5:71ff.; 7:65), sometimes borrowing the exact words of his source. Solinus does not seem to have a clear picture of the material he deals with: he mentions a Lake Sara, probably an error for Pliny's Genasara (Kinneret). Though Pliny comments on the Tiberias hot springs, Solinus overlooks this natural phenomenon and refers only to Lake Tiberias. Besides, in repeating Pliny's views on the *Essenes, he used the present tense, although that sect had long been extinct.

[Jacob Petroff]