
Courtney Ann Roby, associate professor in the Department of Classics, will discuss Pliny the Elder’s complexly interconnected web of scientific knowledge in conjunction with the exhibition Wonder and Wakefulness: The Nature of Pliny the Elder.
Pliny advertises his Natural History as a repository of twenty thousand facts about the natural world, but the resulting work is anything but a dry compendium of lifeless information. It is illuminated by accounts of how that knowledge is best gained: not merely by hearing lectures, but by getting out into the world to experience its richness directly. The sounds, scents, and even tastes of the natural world fill the Natural History; this talk will explore how he seeks to inspire his readers to awaken their own senses to the natural world around them.