The concluding five books (33-37) of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia enumerate various types of metals and minerals together with how these materials can be used. This utilization especially in fine arts gives Pliny a chance to survey the history of art. The peculiar feature of this historical narrative can be spotted in the author’s strongly anecdotic presentation. The first part of “Natura, Ars, Historia” is devoted to a specification, an analysis and an interpretation of the anecdotic narratives found in (...) the Naturalis Historia’s art history. The essay highlights how the anecdotes become parables illustrating certain virtues Pliny highly esteemed. (shrink)

The second part of “Ars, Natura, Historia” focuses on the narrative techniques used by Pliny’s art history found in the Naturalis Historia. The narratological analysis of the artist anecdotes draws our attention to how Pliny’s diction is essentially rooted within rhetoric. The artist anecdotes of Naturalis Historia fulfill the role of exemplum, and as such, they become the vehicle for conveying the sets of values expounded in the encyclopedia.