Pliny mentions some painted ceilings in his day in the town of Ardea, which had been done prior to the foundation of Rome.

Stalactites are first mentioned ( though not by name ) by the Roman natural historian Pliny in a text which also mentions stalagmites and columns and refers to their creation by the dripping of water.

Pliny the Elder mentions the oryx and an Indian ox ( perhaps a rhinoceros ) as one-horned beasts, as well as " a very fierce animal called the monoceros which has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse ; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length.

Pliny the Elder indeed, mentions its name ( Selinus oppidum ), as if it still existed as a town in his time, but Strabo distinctly classes it with extinct cities.

Pliny indeed mentions a great calamity which the city had sustained, when ( he tells us ) half of it was swallowed up by the sea, probably from an earthquake having caused the fall of part of the hill on which it stands, but we have no clue to the date of this event ; The Itineraries attest the existence of Tyndaris, apparently still as a considerable place, in the fourth century.

Arrian mentions many others by name, but they would seem to have been little more than mountain torrents: the most important of them were Charieis, Chobus or Cobus, Singames, Tarsuras, Hippus, Astelephus, Chrysorrhoas, several of which are also noticed by Ptolemy and Pliny.

Pliny ( Natural History 6. 30. 123 ) mentions a sect, or school of Chaldeans called the Hippareni.

Pliny mentions nine gods of the Etruscans who had the power of wielding thunderbolts, pointing toward Martianus's Novensiles as gods pertaining to the use of thunder and lightning ( fulgura ) as signs.

The Roman encyclopedist Pliny mentions in his Naturalis Historia of around 70 AD water-powered trip hammers operating in the greater part of Italy.

Pliny also mentions Aseni and Asoi clans south of the Hindukush.

Pliny mentions the wines of Cesena as among the best.

Pliny the Younger ( 63 – c. 113 ), who was not a Christian himself, mentions not only fixed times of prayer by believers, but also specific services — other than the Eucharist — assigned to those times: “ they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity ... after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal.

Pliny the Elder watched it being built and mentions it in his Naturalis Historia.

Pliny the Elder mentions in his Naturalis Historia that Spain had encroached on the sea and local lakes as a result of ground sluicing operations.

Pliny the Elder mentions a meeting between Caesar's predecessor as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, and a king of the Suebi ; which took place during Celer's proconsulship in 62 BC.

Pliny the Younger mentions verse written by Nepos, and in his own Life of Dion, Nepos himself refers to a work of his own authorship, De Historicis.

Pliny the Elder ( N. H. 5. 19 ), using the name ' Pacida ', mentions that the river flowed from Lake Cendevia ( now below Mount Carmel ) for five miles ( 8 km ) to the sea near " Ptolemais Ace ", and that it was celebrated for its vitrous sands.

There is confusion over the correct location of Endymion, as some sources suppose that one was, or was related to, the prince of Elis, and the other was a shepherd from Caria — or, a later suggestion, an astronomer: Pliny the Elder mentions Endymion as the first human to observe the movements of the moon, which ( according to Pliny ) accounts for Endymion's love.

Pliny the Elder ( 23 – 79 AD ) mentions Greek ships anchored at Muziris and Nelcynda.

( Pliny the Younger mentions Rectina, whom he calls the wife of Tascius, in Letter 16 of book VI of his Letters.

Columella, a Latin writer of the 1st century AD, mentions the processing of wax from beehives in De Re Rustica, perhaps for casting, as does Pliny the Elder, who details a sophisticated procedure for making Punic wax.

Pliny also mentions the use of lead, which is known to help molten bronze flow into all areas and parts of complex moulds.

According to Pliny the Elder ( 23-79 AD ), who mentions its fragrant smell, it was the extract of an herb called " ladan.

Earlier Pliny says that a large island of three days ' sail from the Scythian coast called Balcia by Xenophon of Lampsacus is called Basilia by Pytheas.

He might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in The Natural History by Pliny the Elder.

It is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia (" kingdom " or " royal ") in On the Ocean by Pytheas.

The connection is made as follows: Pliny reports that " Timaeus says there is an island named Mictis ... where tin is found, and to which the Britains cross.

Earlier Pliny says that a large island of three days ' sail from the Scythian coast called Balcia by Xenophon of Lampsacus is called Basilia by Pytheas.

Pliny says that Topazos is a legendary island in the Red Sea and the mineral " topaz " was first mined there.

The promontory adjoining the city is evidently that noticed by Ptolemy (), but the Caralitanum Promontorium of Pliny can be no other than the headland, now called Capo Carbonara, which forms the eastern boundary of the Gulf of Cagliari, and the southeast point of the whole island.

Pliny described it as a colony, the only on the island in his time, suggesting that there was previously no town on the spot, but merely a fort or castellum.

Mentioned as Burchana fabaria ( island of beans ) by both Strabo and Pliny the elder, Borkum by the time of Charlemagne the island was part of a larger island called Bant, which consisted of the present day islands of Borkum, Juist and the western part of Norderney.

Historically, Brač was famous for goats ; even Pliny comments that from the island of Brattia ( the Latin name for the island ) comes excellent cheese, wine and olive oil.

Its position gave it a high importance in Ægean trade ; while the island itself was rich in wines of considerable fame ( Pliny, xxxv.

In Greek mythology, Symi is reputed to be the birthplace of the Charites and to take its name from the nymph Syme ( in antiquity the island was known as Aigli and Metapontis ), though Pliny the Elder and some later writers claimed it came from the word scimmia meaning a monkey.

Another city, on the southeast coast of the island at Meninx, was a major producer of murex dye, cited by Pliny the Elder as second only to Tyre in this respect ; substantial amounts of coloured marble testify to its wealth.

The island is also mentioned by Virgil, Pliny the Elder and Strabo.

Pliny the Elder attributes the origin of the triskelion of Sicily to the triangular form of the island, the ancient Trinacria ( from the Greek tri-( three ) and akra ( end, limb )), which consists of three large capes equidistant from each other, pointing in their respective directions, the names of which were Pelorus, Pachynus, and Lilybæum.

The statue is attributed by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus.

Pliny suggests the dog as having taken its name from the Adriatic island Méléda ; however, Strabo, in the early first century AD, identifies the breed as originating from the Mediterranean island of Malta, and writes that they were favored by noble women.

Documented ancient Greek names for the island are Calydna, Phoenice and Lyrnessus ( Pliny, HN 5, 140 ).

But Pliny and other contemporary writers did not mention grapes and wines at the island.

Pliny the Elder ( Natural History, 16, 200 ), tells us that there was an island in the center, probably rectangular and connected to the shore by a bridge where the privileged spectators likely sat.