The didactic poem on fish and fishing by Oppian of Anazarbus, a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet, survived the Middle Ages essentially in its entirety, consisting of 3500 lines in Greek. The poem was dedicated to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, allowing it be dated within their rules. Oppianus is considered relatively accurate from the scientific standpoint in his descriptions of fish; he made the effort to refute common errors. First English translation by Diaper and Jones as Oppian's Halieuticks of the nature of fishes and fishing of the ancients In V books. Translated from the Greek with an account of Oppian's life and writings and a catalogue of his fishes (Oxford, 1722). ISTC No. io00065000. Digital facsimile of the 1478 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1722 English translation from the Internet Archive at this link.

First edition in print of Oppian of Apamea's Cynegetica (Κυνηγετικά/KynÄ“getiká, 'On Hunting' ), a didactic poem in 2144 hexameters and 4 books, dedicated to the emperor Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus). Its author is to not be confused with Oppian of Anazarbus, although in antiquity both didactic poems were attributed to a single author with this name, perhaps because they were combined in a single edition, beginning with Halieutiká, or because the author of Cynegetica circulated his own work under the name of the predecessor he imitated. In this Aldine edition the Greek texts of the works of both Oppians were combined, along with their translation by Lorenzo Lippi; however, only the Cynegetica was printed for the first time. Cynegetica was written after 198 CE (conquest of the city of Ctesiphon). In addition to information on hunting techniques with dogs and horses, the work includes a great deal of zoological information as hunters needed to know as much as possible about the animals they hunted, their habits and methods appropriate to their capture, etc. The only surviving illuminated manuscript of the text is the 10th century codex from the library of Basilios Bessarion in the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana, Venice, designated cod. Gr. Z. 479. It includes 187 miniature paintings.