Book 3 of the Natural History, the first geographical book, confines itself to southern Europe, from the outlet of the Mediterranean at the west to the mouth of the Danube at the northeast, excluding the Greek peninsula. After a brief introduction about geography and Pliny’s technique (1–2) and comments about Europe as a whole (3–5), the narrative moves through Hispania (6–30), Gaul (31–7), and Italy from the Alps to Sicily (38–138). The Italian portion is nearly two-thirds of the book, which concludes with the regions east of the Adriatic as far as the Danube (139–51). Discussion of mainland Greece is reserved for the following book (NH 4.1–39), whose beginning follows directly on the end of Book 3. The account of the lands west of Italy is limited to the Mediterranean coasts: the remaining portions of the Iberian peninsula and Europe are examined in Book 4 (94–120).

Book 6 discusses the portion of the continent of Asia that had not been examined in Book 5, beginning at the Thracian Bosporus, where Book 5 ended (5.151). Now Pliny continued from the Bosporus around the Asian shore of the Pontus Euxinus, or Black Sea (1–24), with some diversion into the interior of Asia Minor. He then moved into Armenia and the Caucasus (25–35) and the Caspian region (36–49). After a consideration of the extreme north and east of the known world (50–5), the Natural History focused on India, Taprobane, and Ariana (56–106). Returning west, the account moves into the Persian plateau and Mesopotamia (107–141), and then the part of Arabia not previously discussed (142–77), followed by Aethiopia (178–97), and concluding with various islands (198–205). The final portion of the geographical books of the Natural History is about terrestrial parallels (206–20).

C. Plinius Secundus was born at Comum (modern Como) in late ad 23 or sometime the following year. Comum, at the southern end of Lake Larius (modern Lago di Como), had been an obscure Celtic village until a century previously, when the Romans established a presence there. Virtually nothing is known about Pliny’s youth or education, but by ad 47 he had embarked on an equestrian military career in Germania under the command of Cn. Domitius Corbulo. He had returned to Rome by the ad 50s, and seems to have remained relatively obscure during the principate of Nero. But with the accession of Vespasian – whom he already knew – in ad 69 he returned to public service and became a procurator (financial officer), with positions in various locations, including Narbonensis, Tarraconensis, Belgica, Africa, and perhaps elsewhere. He became a close advisor to the emperor, confering with him on a daily basis when in Rome. He also practiced law. Eventually he became fleet commander at Misenum, the Roman naval base established by Augustus at the end of the long peninsula that forms the western side of the Bay of Naples. His sister Plinia and her son, also C.

Book 4, the shortest of the geographical books of the Natural History, begins at the Acroceraunian Promontory on the west coast of the Balkan Peninsula, at the northern edge of Epiros. It thus connects with NH 3.145, where Pliny completed his discussion of the Adriatic coast. The book includes the entire Greek peninsula, described in a counter-clockwise fashion from Epiros through the Peloponnesus and north to Macedonia (4.1–39), Thrace and the Aegean (4.40–51), the Greek islands (4.52–74), and the European side of the Black Sea (4.75–93). Rather than cross into Asia at this point, and continue along the eastern coast of the sea, the narrative heads back west into northern Europe (3.94–101), and then passes through the British Isles into the interior parts of Gallia and Hispania (4.102–120), regions that were not discussed in Book 3. The circular itinerary, unusual in Greco-Roman geographical studies, allowed Pliny to complete Europe before moving to the other continents, yet retain the coastal orientation that is an essential part of the geographical portions of the Natural History. But it meant that the central nature of Europe – the location of Rome – was emphasized before moving to the other continents.

One of the features of the Natural History is the catalogue of topics and sources that comprises Book 1, a rare component of an ancient text. It provides the subjects of each book, followed by a list of the number of items within it. For Book 2 this is limited to “facts, investigations, and observations,” but for books 3–6 there is the number of “towns and peoples, famous rivers, famous mountains, islands, towns and peoples that have perished,” and then the summary, “facts, investigations, and observations.” The actual numbers for Books 3 and 4 are missing. Only the number of islands (118) survives for Book 5, and Book 6 has the complete sequence of numbers.

Book 2 of the Natural History, the opening book of the text proper, is not strictly geographical, but its discussion of the cosmos is a fitting introduction for the geographical examination that follows. There is an emphasis on the divinity (deus) and its relevance to Roman life, yet this is a divinity that has little or no concern in human affairs. This lays the groundwork for the sense of utility that underlies much of the Natural History, more apparent, perhaps, in practical sections such as those on agriculture and zoology than geography.

The Fayum oasis is key to our knowledge of houses in Roman Egypt. The villages and necropolises there have long attracted investigators focusing – in a more or less scientific way – on written documents, especially papyri, and material remains. Recently renewed research, including surveys and excavations, has supplemented the earlier evidence with new archaeological and textual data of the Hellenistic and Roman occupation of the area. This chapter gives an overview of what is known of the housing of the Fayum during that time. By integrating archaeological housing evidence from Fayum sites with papyrological information, this chapter aims to demonstrate that only an approach taking into account both the material and textual sources can result in a comprehensive picture of the appearance, layout, value, inhabitants and occupation history of individual buildings (for example, change of ownership through sale or the division of a single house among various house owners) within the context of entire village quarters. Moreover, this interdisciplinary method allows an improved understanding of the house types that coexisted on the Fayum sites during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and situates the Fayum evidence in the context of housing in the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean.

This chapter brings together Greek documentary papyri from family archives in and around the town of Tebtynis in the Fayyum, with the archaeological record for housing across the region. In so doing, it presents a case for understanding the ownership, transactions and leasing of houses, or parts of houses, as a means to develop or preserve social status and standing in these towns and villages. The chapter explores transactions in the papyri between known individuals, against the context of the observed physical life cycle of houses and their associated outside space. It concludes that, for those individuals of specific social status (primarily gymnasial), both close and extended kinship ties were an important part of the considerations when financial transactions took place involving housing. Such activities were crucial to the operation of social positioning within the middle and upper echelons of these relatively small communities in the Fayyum. The extent to which these patterns may be said to be typical of similar elements of kinship and social structures across Roman Egypt is debatable, but the approach taken by this chapter provides a means of exploring these relationships further.

Like those studying other aspects of the ancient world, archaeologists working on housing frequently use textual evidence to provide a framework within which the archaeological material can be understood. This chapter suggests that the reverse can also be helpful, namely using archaeology to provide a context which facilitates a clearer understanding of some of the textual evidence. As an example, I choose three passages from Demosthenes which allude to the character of housing and other buildings in the city of Athens. I read these against the background of broader changes in the architecture of houses being constructed at Athens and other cities in the first half of the 4th century BCE, as well as the new evidence for the lavish palatial building at Vergina, which suggests it was originally constructed by Philip II. I argue that this material shows Demosthenes' allusions are actually veiled references to contemporary politics, and that they highlight an issue which was a matter of debate at Athens during the time he was writing, namely, the increasing use of the house as a symbol of personal wealth and power.

This introduction probes the relationship between textual and material approaches to houses of the ancient Mediterranean. Drawing on the contributions to the volume, it traces some of the ways in which documentary and archaeological sources, and the relationships between these, have shaped our knowledge of the housing and households of the Graeco-Roman world.