Bibliograph

In the shadow of Vesuvius, a life of Pliny, Daisy Dunn

Type

Label

In the shadow of Vesuvius, a life of Pliny, Daisy Dunn

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

resource.biographical

individual biography

Illustrations

platesmapsillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

In the shadow of Vesuvius

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Daisy Dunn

Sub title

a life of Pliny

Summary

AD 79. Pliny the Elder, a historian, admiral of the fleet, and author of an extraordinary encyclopaedia of Natural History, perishes beneath Vesuvius. His 17-year-old nephew, Pliny the Younger, survives. The elder Pliny left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his Natural History offering observations on everything, from the moon, to elephants, to the efficacy of ground millipedes in healing ulcers. Adopted as his late uncle's son, Pliny the Younger inherited his notebooks his pearls of wisdom and endeavoured to keep his memory alive. But what became of the young man after the disaster? At its heart is a literary biography of the younger Pliny, who grew up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and personal representative of the emperor overseas. Interweaving the younger Pliny's Letters with ideas and extracts from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, Daisy Dunn brings their world back to life. Working from the original sources, she celebrates two of the greatest minds from antiquity and their influence on the world that came after them

Target audience

adult

resource.variantTitle

Life of Pliny

Creator