PLINY THE ELDER

born AD 23, , Novum Comum, Transpadane Gaul [now in Italy] died Aug. 24, 79, Stabiae, near Mt. Vesuvius Latin in full Gaius Plinius Secundus Roman savant and author of the celebrated Natural History, an encyclopaedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. Additional reading The role of Pliny in the preservation and interpretation of the early views of the natural world is assessed in Roger French and Frank Greenaway (eds.), Science in the Early Roman Empire: Pliny the Elder, His Sources and Influence (1986), a collection of informative, authoritative essays.