Pliny the Elder concludes a chapter on mining with the following judgement: “How innocent, how happy, in fact how luxurious even would life be, if it desired nothing from somewhere other than the surface of the earth” (33.3). Thus, there is a moral gap between consuming riches from the surface of the earth and taking them from its interior. In this research, I aim to explain this gap by studying human nature relations in the Natural History.
Hylke de Boer, BA
RMA student in Classics
Scholarship: (R)MA scholarship
Titel onderzoek: Spectant victores ruinam naturae: the Morality of Farming and Mining in Pliny's Natural History
Werkzaam bij het KNIR: voorjaar 2023
Universiteit: Leiden University
