Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79), a contemporary of Dioscorides, who travelled throughout Germany & Spain, wrote about approximately 1000 medicinal plants in his Natural History “Historia naturalis.” Pliny's & Dioscorides’ works incorporated all knowledge of medicinal plants at the time.
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 – 79), called Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist & natural philosopher, a naval & army commander of the early Roman Empire. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, & investigating natural phenomena in the field.
His major work, Natural History is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire & purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. It encompasses the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology, & mineralogy & remains a standard work for the Roman period & the advances in technology & understanding of natural phenomena at the time.
