Othello by William Shakespeare, like many other works by Shakespeare, was not an original story but based on earlier materials by other authors. The tale of Othello is found in a short story by Geraldi Cinthio which is part of a group of tales about unfaithful spouses. Shakespeare probably read this in a French translation or heard about it from someone acquainted with the French version. He embellished this tale with additional information about the Moors, some probably taken from Pliny's Natural History as well as other accounts of the Moors and of the wars between Venice and the Ottoman Empire.