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Description of  Pliny the Elder's Natural History: The Empire in the Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder's Natural History, from first-century Rome, is the most important surviving encyclopedia of the ancient world. As a guide to the cultural meanings of everyday things in ancient Rome it is unparalleled. Concentrating on Pliny's accounts of foreign lands and peoples, monsters, and barbarians, Trevor Murphy demonstrates the political significance of this reference book as a monument to the power of Roman imperial society.