Salt Exploitation References in Plinius Maior's Work
Salt Exploitation References in Plinius Maior's Work

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to approach the work of Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, from the perspective of salt exploitation, highlighting the forms of manifestation, its geographical distribution and briefly the main uses. The motivation of the present paper materialized after going through Pliny's text, which revealed a subject that lacks fluency to a certain extent. Pliny distinguishes two categories of salt, according to its state, natural and artificial. Thus, a first systematization of the references about salt identified in Naturalis Historia is based on these aspects, highlighting, in the case of the natural state of the explored mineral, the salt lakes, springs or salt mountains and sea water; regarding the artificial state of salt, mentions of salt pans have been documented. Along these, a short excursus regarding the medicinal uses of salt is added, in order to better portray the image of salt in the era.

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