Pauly-Wissowa is the name of a really big book. It is a book about people and things that lived a long time ago, like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. But instead of dinosaurs, it talks about real humans who lived in ancient Greece and Rome.
The book is written in a special language called Latin, and it is very, very long. It has almost 90 volumes, which is like 90 big giant books put together! That's a lot of reading!
Pauly-Wissowa is really important because it tells us a lot about what life was like back then. People who are interested in history can read it to learn about the important people who lived a long time ago, and what they did in their lives.
It's like taking a time machine back in time and learning all about these amazing ancient people. Even though it's written in Latin, people all over the world use it to learn about the past.