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The text assembles a systematic survey of the natural world, opening with cosmological and geographical discussions and proceeding through plants, animals, minerals, and human uses of natural substances. It synthesizes reports from earlier authors, travelers, and craftsmen, combining empirical observation, hearsay, and learned commentary to describe physical phenomena, medicinal remedies, technologies, and curiosities. Organized as an encyclopedic sequence of books and chapters, it catalogues facts and theories, cites authorities, and balances practical instruction with natural-philosophical reflection.
There is at Paphos a celebrated temple of Venus, in a certain court of which it never rains; also at Nea, a town of Troas, in the spot which surrounds the statue of Minerva: in this place also the remains of animals that are sacrificed never putrefy601.