was “Historia Naturalis” (Natural History), an encyclopedia of natural science that spanned thirty-seven books. In this work, Pliny describes in detail the physical nature of the world.

Focusing on a passage from Pliny the Elder's Natural History (arguably the urtext of classical art history), this paper explores the perennial question of how the material stuff of antiquity can be ...

In the year 112, Pliny the Younger was faced with a dilemma. He was the governor in the Roman province of Bithynia (modern day Turkey) when a number of Christians were brought into his court.