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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 1. The Manuscripts
Looking from Cape Misenum towards Mt. Vesuvius in the far right distance This begins a series of posts that will translate and comment upon Pliny the Younger’s two letters (6.16 and 6.20) about the...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 2. Dramatis Personae
Lake Como: hometown of the Pliny family Dramatis Personae Both Vesuvian letters (Ep. 6.16 and 6.20) are addressed to the historian Cornelius Tacitus. The first (6.16) responds to a request that Tacitus...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 3. The Historian’s Request
Bay of Naples: pulcherrimarum terrarum 6.16.1-3: The Historian’s Request With the background established, let’s read the letters. The Latin is in italics; English translation follows in Roman text,...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 4. A Strange Cloud
Strange Cloud: non alia magis arbor quam pinus 6.16.4-6: A Strange Cloud The Younger Pliny now begins the tale that Tacitus has asked him to share. It is critical to remember that the real subject of,...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 5. The Hero Embarks
Relative location of Vesuvius compared to the naval base at Misenum (inner and outer harbors visible at lower center). Based on GoogleEarth. 6.16.7-10: The Hero Embarks The Younger Pliny has just...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 6. Fortune Favors the Brave
A Roman seaside villa on a sunnier day (fresco from Stabiae) 6.16.11-12: Fortune Favors the Brave This post is part of a serialized translation and commentary of Pliny the Younger’s letters to the...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 7. An Anxious Night
Lightning from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in October, 2010, by Sigurdur Hrafn Stefnisson, from National Geographic 6.16.13-16: An Anxious Night This post belongs to a serialized translation and...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 8. The Smell of Sulfur
John Martin’s early 19th-c. vision of the beach at Stabiae (detail) 6.16.17-22: The Smell of Sulfur This post belongs to a serialized translation and commentary of Pliny the Younger’s letters (6.16 and...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 9. Shuddering to Remember
The world turned topsy-turvy: detail of a relief from Pompeii depicting the earthquake of AD 62/3 toppling the Temple of Jupiter (see below for details) 6.20.1-3: Shuddering to Remember This post...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 10. When in Doubt, Study
Angela Kauffmann, Pliny the Younger and his Mother at Misenum, 79 A.D. (1785) Princeton University Art Museum (detail; see full painting below) 6.20.4-6: When in Doubt, Study. This post belongs to a...
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Translating Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, pt. 11. The Elements Torn Asunder
Drawback from the Boxing Day tsunami, 2004, Hat Rai Lay Beach, Thailand 6.20.7-9: The Elements Torn Asunder. This post belongs to a serialized translation and commentary of Pliny the Younger’s letters...
View ArticleTranslating Pliny’s Letters about Vesuvius – update
The blog posts about the Vesuvius eruption are on hold while I complete my book, Pliny and the Destruction of Vesuvius (Routledge, 2021). The book is about Letters 6.16 and 6.20, and has these...
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Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius – publication March 2022
Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius (Routledge, March 2022) is in press. Here is how to order for your library at a 20% discount. My blog posts about the Vesuvius eruption are well obsolete, but I will...
View ArticleThe Date of the AD 79 Vesuvius eruption in the textual sources
20-min. lecture from 6 January 2022, Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting. All details and data to be published in March 2022:...
View ArticleHerculaneum Society: Pliny the Younger and the Date and Sequence of the...
Two talks for the Herculaneum Society, based at Oxford, 26 February 2022, now on YouTube: Professor Pedar Foss, DePauw University, on “Ashy Tuesday-Wednesday: The Date and Sequence of the AD 79...
View ArticleTwo Reviews of the Two Plinys and Vesuvius
Two reviews of Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius have come out, one by Margot Neger in BMCR, and one by Paolo Bernardini in La Provincia di Como (here is the PDF and a translation). I should note...
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Director General of Pompeii supports Aug. 24 date for the Eruption of...
Published today, an article led by Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director General of the Pompeii Archaeological Park:...
View ArticleVesuvius Erupted, but When Exactly? (NY Times, & November colloquium in...
The New York Times on Mar. 2, 2025 ran a story about attempting to fix the precise date of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD...
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