Pliny the Elder, who died during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., wrote a long account in 37 books of everything that the Romans knew about the world around them - in the words of his nephew Pliny the Younger, "a comprehensive and learned work, covering as wide a field as Nature herself". The 'Natural History' has been translated into English by H.Rackham, W.H.S.Jones and D.E.Eichholz in their Loeb edition. Books 2-8 and 33-37 are available on this website; for the other books, there are links below to the copies on the internet archive.
The following table contains links to the individual books in the translation.
| Preface | Addressed to Titus. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Book 1 | List of contents for books 2-37. | ||
| Book 2 1-101
Book 2 102-175 Book 2 176-248 | Cosmology, astronomy, meteorology, geography, geology. | ||
| Book 3 1-75
Book 3 76-152 | Southern Spain; Southern Gaul; Italy; the Western Mediterranean and Ionian and Adriatic Islands: the countries round the north of the Adriatic. | ||
| Book 4 1-61
Book 4 62-122 | Greece and the rest of the Balkan Peninsula; the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean; the Black Sea and the countries west of it; Northern Europe. | ||
| Book 5 1-74
Book 5 75-151 | North Africa: the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. | ||
| Book 6 1-70
Book 6 71-141 Book 6 142-220 | Countries from the Black Sea to India; Persia; Arabia; Ethiopia and the Nile valley. | ||
| Book 7 1-76
Book 7 77-152 Book 7 153-215 | The human race - its biology, physiology and psychology. | ||
| Book 8 1-111
Book 8 112-229 | Various mammals, wild and domesticated ; including snakes, crocodiles and lizards. | ||
| Book 9 | Aquatic species, including Nereids, Tritons and the sea-serpent. There are considerable passages on their economic aspects - the use of fish as food, pearls, dyes obtained from fish, and on their physiology, sensory and reproductive. | ||
| Book 10 | Ornithology : hawks trained for fowling ; birds of evil omen ; domestication of birds for food ; talking birds ; reproduction. Appendix on other viviparous species, passing on to animals in general - their methods of reproduction, senses, nutrition, friendship and hostility between different species, sleep. | ||
| Book 11 | Insects, their physiology and habits - especially bees, silk-worms, spiders. Classification of animals by varieties of bodily structure - animal and human physiology. | ||
| Book 12 | Trees - their various qualities. | ||
| Book 13 | Foreign trees and their use in supplying scent, fruit, paper and wood. | ||
| Book 14 | Vine-growing and varieties of wine. | ||
| Book 15 | Olives, olive-oil and fruit-trees. | ||
| Book 16 | Forest trees, their nature and varieties ; their value for timber and other commodities. Longevity of trees. Parasitic plants. | ||
| Book 17 | Arboriculture (continued). | ||
| Book 18 | Cereal agriculture. | ||
| Book 19 | Cultivation of flax and other plants used for fabrics; vegetable gardening. | ||
| Book 20 | Garden plants - mostly vegetables. | ||
| Book 21 | Flowers. | ||
| Book 22 | Miscellaneous plants, including dye plants. | ||
| Book 23 | Medicinal properties of wine, vinegar, oil, nuts, fruit. | ||
| Book 24 | Medicinal properties of trees and herbs. | ||
| Book 25 | Medicinal properties of herbs. | ||
| Book 26 | New diseases; major medicinal herbs. | ||
| Book 27 | Minor medicinal herbs, in roughly alphabetical order. | ||
| Book 28 | Medicinal uses of the human body's own products; charms; animal products. | ||
| Book 29 | Medicinal uses of animal products (continued). | ||
| Book 30 | Medicinal uses of animal products (continued); magic arts. | ||
| Book 31 | Water; sea; water creatures; different kinds of water, poisonous waters; prospecting for water; wells and pipes; hot springs; salt, soda, and sponges. | ||
| Book 32 | Sea animals; goby, sting-ray, coral, tortoise, oysters; medical uses of oysters, leeches. | ||
| Book 33 1-94
Book 33 95-164 | Gold, silver and mercury; man's greed and exploitation of the earth's resources; weapons ; history of coinage; physical properties of gold; sources of gold, mining techniques; gold statues; refining; medical use of metals; cinnabar; touchstone; mirrors; changing prices. | ||
| Book 34 1-93
Book 34 94-178 | History of bronze working; bronze statues; Greek and Roman styles of sculpture; famous statues; the Colossus of Rhodes; famous Greek sculptors; copper, copper slag and copper compounds used in medicine; iron-ores and smelting; lode-stone, lead, tin; medical use of lead. | ||
| Book 35 1-100
Book 35 101-202 | Portraiture; history of painting; the painter's palette; white and black pigments; eminent artists, including Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius, Apelles, Aristides and Protogenes; modelling; use of clay; brick-making; sulphur, bitumen, alum, kaolin and chalk. | ||
| Book 36 1-100
Book 36 101-204 | Marble; marble statues; sculptors; obelisks and pyramids; the buildings of Rome; some other stones. | ||
| Book 37 1-106
Book 37 107-205 | Precious stones; the world's most expensive products. | ||
| Introductions | Volume 1; Volume 6 (diseases, remedies and botany); Volume 6 (note on the Magi); Volume 7 (some difficult words in Pliny); Volume 8 (popular medicine in ancient Italy).
| Indexes
| Geographical index; Plants; Diseases; Artists; Minerals.
| |