Beskrivning
Beskrivning
An unrivaled compendium of ancient Roman knowledge.Plinythe Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23–79), a Roman of equestrianrank of Transpadane Gaul (N. Italy), was uncle of Pliny the letterwriter. He pursued a career partly military in Germany, partlyadministrative in Gaul and Spain under the emperor Vespasian, and becameprefect of the fleet at Misenum. He died in the eruption of Vesuviuswhen he went to get a closer view and to rescue friends. Tirelessworker, reader, and writer, he was author of works now lost; but hisgreat Natural History in thirty-seven books with its vastcollection of facts (and alleged facts) survives—a mine of informationdespite its uncritical character.Thecontents of the books are as follows. Book 1: table of contents of theothers and of authorities; 2: mathematical and metrological survey ofthe universe; 3–6: geography and ethnography of the known world; 7:anthropology and the physiology of man; 8–11: zoology; 12–19: botany,agriculture, and horticulture; 20–27: plant products as used inmedicine; 28–32: medical zoology; 33–37: minerals (and medicine), thefine arts, and gemstones. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Natural History is in ten volumes.
