The next issue of the collection “Ancient Sources on the History of Eastern Europe” is devoted to the historical and geographical information contained in the “Chorography” of Pomponius Mela - the oldest surviving complete geographical work of Roman authors (mid-1st century AD) - and in “ Natural History” by the Roman encyclopedist Pliny the Elder (second half of the 1st century AD). These monuments give a fairly complete picture of the knowledge about Eastern Europe that the Romans had and which in subsequent centuries, right up to the Renaissance, served as the basis for information about this region. The works of Mela and Pliny are similar in many ways, while a significant part of their information goes back to very ancient sources, which helps to reconstruct the most ancient stages of ancient ideas about the northern outskirts of the ecumene. The book contains Latin texts, their Russian translation, as well as a detailed historical and philological commentary on the evidence Mela and Pliny on the history of Eastern Europe.

Contents: PrefaceIntroduction

Pomponius Mela. “Chorography” (De chorographia)Introductory articleAuthor and time of creation of “Chorography”Structure of the workNarrative styleSources of “Chorography”“Chorography” as a source on the history of Eastern Europe, Northern and Central AsiaManuscript traditionEditions, translations and literaturePrinciples of this publicationConspectus siglorum, qui in apparatu critico Chorographiae adhibenturTextTranslationCommentary

Gaius Pliny Secundus the Elder. “Natural History” (Naturalis historia)Introductory articleLife and work of PlinyEastern Europe in the “Natural History”Sources of the EI and Pliny’s methods of workManuscript tradition of the EISState of the study and publication of the text of the EIHistory of the publication and study of the EI as a source on the history of Eastern EuropePrinciples of this publicationConspectus siglorum, qui in apparatu critico Naturalis Historiae adhibenturTextTranslationCommentary

BibliographyList of abbreviationsEthnogeographical indexIndex of personal namesLatin nominal and ethnogeographical indexIndex of cited places of ancient and medieval authors and epigraphic monumentsList of illustrationsList of published volumes in the series “Ancient Sources on the History of Eastern Europe”