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Pliny the Elder

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Pliny the Elder

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Also known as Gaius Plinius Secundus, Caius Plinius Secundus, Gaius P. Secundus, Caius P. Secundus, C. Plinius Secundus, Plinius, Pliny, the Elder Pliny

1st-century Roman military commander and writer

AI overview

Pliny the Elder was a Roman military officer and author who lived in the 1st century and wrote extensively about the natural world and history. His works, particularly his encyclopedic *Natural History*, became one of the most influential scientific texts of the ancient world and shaped how Europeans understood nature for centuries afterward.

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Person · Open Library

Born
23 A.D.
Died
70 A.D.
Works
126

Top works

  • Sommaire des singularitez de Pline
  • Iohannis Andree Episcopi Alerien[sis] ad pontificem summum Paulum .II. Venetum. Epistola
  • [De naturali historia
  • Lettres de Pline le Jeune
  • Vorrede, Inhaltsverzeichnis des Gesamtwerks, Fragmente, Zeugnisse.

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
Izhevsk

Discography

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Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
19
Total plays
283

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Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Pliny+The+Elder">Read more on Last.fm</a>

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Quotes

  • In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.
  • The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.
  • The only certainty is that nothing is certain. (Fuller version: This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality, so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain—that nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable, or more presnmptuous, than man! In Latin: Quae singula inprovidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista vel certu(m) sit nihil esse certi nec quicquam miserius homine aut superbius. Some sources have "certu", others "certum".)
  • It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.
  • Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough.
  • Haec est Italia diis sacra

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Wikidata facts

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Grande Illustrazione del Lombardo Veneto Vol 3 Plinio Secondo 300dpi.jpg
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Commons category
Plinius Maior
Commons Creator page
Plinio el Viejo
name in native language
Caius Plinius Secundus
date of birth
0024-00-00
date of death
0079-08-25
P13311
Thanjavur
Sources (5)

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Works in European collections

36 objects attributed to Pliny the Elder, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Naturae historiarum libri XXXVII e castigationibus Hermolai Barbari, quam emendatissime editi. Additus est index Joannis Camertis

Naturae historiarum libri XXXVII e castigationibus Hermolai Barbari, quam emendatissime editi. Additus est index Joannis Camertis

C. Plinii Secvndi Historia Mvndi, Denvo Emendata, Non Pavcis Locis Ex Diligenti Ad Pervetvsta Et optimæ fidei exemplaria collatione, nunc primũ animaduersis castigatisq[ue], quemadmodum cuidenter in Sigismundi Gelenij Annotationibus operi adnexis apparet. Adiunctus est Index copiosissimus (Joan. Camertis.)

C. Plinii Secvndi Historia Mvndi, Denvo Emendata, Non Pavcis Locis Ex Diligenti Ad Pervetvsta Et optimæ fidei exemplaria collatione, nunc primũ animaduersis castigatisq[ue], quemadmodum cuidenter in Sigismundi Gelenij Annotationibus operi adnexis apparet. Adiunctus est Index copiosissimus (Joan. Camertis.)

Historiae mundi libri XXXVII a Sigismundo Gelenio castigati. Accesserunt ad marginem variae lectiones ac notae ex Ferd. Pintiani, Adr. Turnebi ... aliorumque scriptis ... una cum indice

Historiae mundi libri XXXVII a Sigismundo Gelenio castigati. Accesserunt ad marginem variae lectiones ac notae ex Ferd. Pintiani, Adr. Turnebi ... aliorumque scriptis ... una cum indice

Pline’s natural history with translation into French/vol. 1

Pline’s natural history with translation into French/vol. 1

Pline’s natural history with translation into French/vol. 2

Pline’s natural history with translation into French/vol. 2

Historiae naturalis

Historiae naturalis

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

In Omnes C. Plinii Secvndi Natvralis Historiæ Argvtissimi Scriptoris libros, Stephani Aquæi Bituricensis, viri Equestris, Commentaria

In Omnes C. Plinii Secvndi Natvralis Historiæ Argvtissimi Scriptoris libros, Stephani Aquæi Bituricensis, viri Equestris, Commentaria

C. Plinii Secundi naturae historiarum libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi naturae historiarum libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae naturalis libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae naturalis libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII

Secundi Historiae mundi libri XXXVII

Secundi Historiae mundi libri XXXVII

Cajus Plinius Secundus Naturgeschichte übersetzt von Gottfried Große [...] Fünfter Band

Cajus Plinius Secundus Naturgeschichte übersetzt von Gottfried Große [...] Fünfter Band

Plinius

Plinius

Traducion de los libros de Caio Plinio Segundo, de la historia natural de los animales

Traducion de los libros de Caio Plinio Segundo, de la historia natural de los animales

Historia Natural. Libros IX, X y XI [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros IX, X y XI [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros XVII, XVIII, XIX y XX [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros XVII, XVIII, XIX y XX [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros IV, V y VI [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros IV, V y VI [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros I, II y III [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros I, II y III [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros VII y VIII [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros VII y VIII [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros VII, X, XI y XII [Manuscrito]. or Cayo Plinio Cecilio Segundo; traducido por Francisco Hernández

Historia Natural. Libros VII, X, XI y XII [Manuscrito]. or Cayo Plinio Cecilio Segundo; traducido por Francisco Hernández

Historia Natural. Libros XIII, XIV y XV [Manuscrito]

Historia Natural. Libros XIII, XIV y XV [Manuscrito]

Histoire de la peinture ancienne, extraite de l'Hist. Naturelle de Pline, Liv. 35. Avec le Texte Latin, corr. sur les Mss. de Vossius et sur la I. Ed. de Venise, et eclairci par des remarques nouv.

Histoire de la peinture ancienne, extraite de l'Hist. Naturelle de Pline, Liv. 35. Avec le Texte Latin, corr. sur les Mss. de Vossius et sur la I. Ed. de Venise, et eclairci par des remarques nouv.

Histoire du monde ... a quoy a este adjouste un traite des poix et mesures antiques reduittes a la facon des Francois. Le tout mis en francois par Antoine du Pinet

Histoire du monde ... a quoy a este adjouste un traite des poix et mesures antiques reduittes a la facon des Francois. Le tout mis en francois par Antoine du Pinet

C. Plinii Secundi Historiae mundi Libri XXXVII ex postrema ad vetustas codices collatione cum annotationibus et indice

C. Plinii Secundi Historiae mundi Libri XXXVII ex postrema ad vetustas codices collatione cum annotationibus et indice

Historia naturalis

Historia naturalis

Canones tabularum illustris regis Alfoncii ac eciam canones eclipsium ordinati per magistrum Iohannem de Saxonia. Item quadrans nouus magistri Profacii. Iudicia Tholomei. Tractatus de presagiis tempestatum. Compotus Linconiensis et nomina astralabii eiusdem [titel fenestra]

Canones tabularum illustris regis Alfoncii ac eciam canones eclipsium ordinati per magistrum Iohannem de Saxonia. Item quadrans nouus magistri Profacii. Iudicia Tholomei. Tractatus de presagiis tempestatum. Compotus Linconiensis et nomina astralabii eiusdem [titel fenestra]

C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis historiae naturalis Libri xxxvij :

C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis historiae naturalis Libri xxxvij :

Medici antiqui omnes :

Medici antiqui omnes :

Epistole Francisci Philelphi Equitis aurati, oratoris atq[ue] Poetae laureati: cum breuiores, tum elega[n]tiores: ex toto eiusdem epistolar[um] volumine selectae: adolescentibus scribendar[um] litteraru[m] officio studiosis maxime conducibiles :

Epistole Francisci Philelphi Equitis aurati, oratoris atq[ue] Poetae laureati: cum breuiores, tum elega[n]tiores: ex toto eiusdem epistolar[um] volumine selectae: adolescentibus scribendar[um] litteraru[m] officio studiosis maxime conducibiles :

Gaius PLINIUS Secundus, Historia naturalis ...

Gaius PLINIUS Secundus, Historia naturalis ...

Valerii Maximi Dictorum, & factorum memorabilium Libri Nouem. Ad exemplar Aldi

Valerii Maximi Dictorum, & factorum memorabilium Libri Nouem. Ad exemplar Aldi

Historia naturalis

Historia naturalis

Histoire naturelle

Histoire naturelle

Caii Plinii Secundi Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII cum selectis commentariis J. Harduini ac recentiorum interpretum novisque adnotationibus - Pars secunda, Vol.2,1,: Continens Geographiam /

Caii Plinii Secundi Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII cum selectis commentariis J. Harduini ac recentiorum interpretum novisque adnotationibus - Pars secunda, Vol.2,1,: Continens Geographiam /

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Article

Gaius Plinius Secundus (Como, 23 or 24 – Stabiae, 25 August 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder (/ˈplɪni/ PLIN-ee), was a Roman author, naturalist, scientist, naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, procurator, and friend of the emperor Vespasian. Pliny wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), a thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.

Pliny produced seven works spanning 102 volumes, of which only Natural History survives. Among the lost works was the twenty-volume Bella Germaniae (Wars of Germania), used as a source by other prominent Roman historians including Plutarch, Tacitus, and Suetonius. Tacitus may have used Bella Germaniae as the primary source for his work, De origine et situ Germanorum (On the Origin and Situation of the Germani). Also substantial was the thirty-one-volume history A fine Aufidii Bassi, which extended Aufidius Bassus' earlier historical work to Pliny's day.

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