Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) was a Roman administrator, naval commander and encyclopedist. His Natural History attempted to gather the known world of astronomy, geography, anthropology, zoology, botany, medicine, minerals and art into one Latin work. He died during the eruption of Vesuvius while commanding rescue operations and observing the phenomenon.
Natural History: A Selection introduces one of antiquity’s great encyclopedic minds. Pliny wants to collect nature and human use together: stars, lands, peoples, animals, plants, metals, pigments, stones, medicines, marvels and technologies all belong to one vast inventory.
