The First Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist, military commander, and financial administrator during Vespasian's rule, envisioned a compilation of all known facts about "life" or the "natural world" for the common people of the world. He intended to explain all learning and art as they related to nature.

Over many years, after concluding his daytime administrative duties, he rushed home to write the first encyclopedia through the night aided by two assistants. While one assistant read aloud other writers' books, Pliny selected relevant information from what he heard and then dictated it to his second assistant.

He imitated Seneca's writing style. He didn't focus on clarity and eloquence, but on facts, further adding dissenting ideas, questions, expletives, tropes, and metaphors. He wrote sloppy, meandering sentences. Modern scholars such as Paula Findlen appreciate his witty and loquacious style.

Pliny published his encyclopedia, Naturalis historia, in AD 77. He died before he could make a final revision of the work, and his nephew, Pliny the Younger, published the latter books unrevised. As Pliny the Elder had not done a final revision of his work, it contains numerous errors. John Healy describes it as "disjointed, discontinuous and not in a logical order."

Naturalis historia is defined an encyclopedia because of its wide range of subjects, its acknowledgement of original authors, and its index. The topics Pliny included are botany, geography, biology, mathematics, agriculture, the arts, anthropology, astronomy, ethnography, human physiology, zoology, pharmacology, mining, mineralogy, and precious stones. The encyclopedia consists of 37 books in 10 volumes.

In 1469 Naturalis historia was one of the first ancient European texts published in print in Venice. Philemon Holland translated much of it into English in 1601, and in 1855 H.
T. Riley translated the complete work into English.

Almost 2000 years after Pliny published Naturalis historia, it has survived and continues to be a significant source of information about 1st-century Roman beliefs and technology. Today there are Latin copies of the work for sale on Amazon.ca and the University of British Columbia in Canada has several English copies for borrowing.

Sources:
"Pliny the Elder." Famous Scientists. Famousscientists.org. 23 May. www.famous scientists.org/pliny-the-elder/.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny). Retrieved on 2022/11/18.

Wasson, D.L. "Pliny the Elder." World Historia Encyclopedia. World History Enclopedia. 12 Jun 2014. Web. 18 Nov 2022.