It portrays the famous naturalist Plinius. From volcanic explosions and tidal waves to the ecology of plants and animals, the work reproduces the world of Natural History, the Plinius encyclopedia describing the universe. This is a definitive historical Roman romance depicting the world 2,000 years ago through astounding composition and realistic draftsmanship.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Louvre's comic collection, a series of international exhibitions has been scheduled. The Taipei MoNTUE Museum, followed by the Tainan Cultural Center, inaugurated the Taiwanese part of this major retrospective by exhibiting more than two hundred original plates, preparatory drawings and video installations. Then, between August 2016 and September 2017, the exhibition follows a traveling tour through Japan, starting with the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo. At each stage of the exhibition, Taiwanese and then Japanese artists were invited to participate in this project. It is their work that we reproduce here. Their personal looks, their original cultures and their singular expressions send back new images of the Louvre,

Demetrios, a timid and kind vase painter in Ancient Greece, who dislikes sports and competitions, is one day forced to come up with a game to compete with the mayor of the neighboring town, in order to save his village. While hiding inside a large vase outside his workshop, lightning strikes the vase Demetrios is in, transferring him to Tokyo, Japan, during the 1964 Summer Olympics.

When Roman architect Lucius is criticized for his "outdated" thermae designs, he retreats to the local bath to collect his thoughts. All Lucius wants is to recapture the Rome of earlier days, when one could enjoy a relaxing bath without the pressure of merchants and roughhousing patrons. Slipping deeper into the warm water, Lucius is suddenly caught in the suction and dragged through the drainage at the bottom of the bath! He emerges coughing and sputtering amid a group of strange-looking foreigners with the most peculiar bathhouse customs...over 1,500 years in the future in modern-day Japan! His contemporaries wanted him to modernize, and so, borrowing the customs of these mysterious bath-loving people, Lucius opens what quickly becomes the most popular new bathhouse in Rome-Thermae Romae!

Note: Won the third Manga Taishō and the Short Story Award at the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2010.