This first article offers selections from a description of the Roman Empire by one Chinese author of the third century AD, and how the Chinese view of this vast, but distant, state was influenced by their trade ties.
Then, in “The Ancient Crocodile Hunters That Helped to Supply the Roman Games,” we learn more of Rome’s fascination with these exotic beasts.
And lastly, this ninth-century Byzantine manuscript of Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica contains charming illustrations of various pharmaceutical critters — several of whom are depicted in the act of defecating!