Pliny the Elder: “An Account of the World and the Elements”
A Student’s Guide to Essential Primary Sources
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Pliny the Elder: “An Account of theWorld and the Elements”
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https://doi.org/10.3735/9781961844193.book-part-106

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Abstract

Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, of which the excerpt below is a small part, is a profoundly ambitious historical work. This monumental thirty-seven-volume text remains one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire, representing an early effort to create a comprehensive scientific encyclopedia. This was a radical new concept, as no encyclopedias predate Pliny’s work. Massive in scope, though often more fanciful than factual, the work explores a vast array of topics, including astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, agriculture, and mineralogy. The immensity of the text is even more impressive considering that Pliny wrote it while serving as an administrator in the court of Emperor Vespasian.

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