**Pliny the Elder *(23–79 CE), tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic Natural History *, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of Roman knowledge. The contents of the books are as follows:

**Pliny the Elder *(23–79 CE), tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic Natural History *, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of Roman knowledge. The contents of the books are as follows:

• Book 1: Table of contents of the others and of authorities;

• Book 2: Mathematical and metrological survey of the universe;

• Books 3–6: Geography and ethnography of the known world;

• Book 7: Anthropology and the physiology of man;

• Books 8–11: Zoology;

• Books 12–19: Botany, agriculture, and horticulture;

• Books 20–27: Plant products as used in medicine;

• Books 28–32: Medical zoology;

• Books 33–37: Minerals (and medicine), the fine arts, and gemstones.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Natural History is in ten volumes.