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Who was Pliny the elder?
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Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24–79), called Pliny the Elder (/ ˈplɪni /), [1] was a Roman author, naturalist, natural philosopher, naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian.
- Overview
- Life
- The Natural History
Pliny the Elder wrote the Natural History, an encyclopaedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. Pliny’s influence is based on his ability to methodically assemble previously unrelated facts, his perceptiveness, and his readable stories, but his work contains unsupported claims, fables, and exaggerations.
What was Pliny the Elder’s family like?
Pliny the Elder was descended from a prosperous family. He never married, but he adopted his sister’s son, Pliny the Younger, who also became an author.
What was Pliny the Elder’s occupation?
Pliny the Elder began a military career by serving in Germany, and he rose to the rank of cavalry commander. During the reign of Vespasian, with whom Pliny had served in Germany, he was procurator in Spain and assumed various official positions in Rome. However, he devoted most of his life to studying and writing.
What did Pliny the Elder write?
Pliny was descended from a prosperous family, and he was enabled to complete his studies in Rome. At the age of 23, he began a military career by serving in Germany, rising to the rank of cavalry commander. He returned to Rome, where he possibly studied law. Until near the end of Nero’s reign, when he became procurator in Spain, Pliny lived in semiretirement, studying and writing. His devotion to his studies and his research technique were described by his nephew, Pliny the Younger. Upon the accession in 69 ce of Vespasian, with whom Pliny had served in Germany, he returned to Rome and assumed various official positions.
Pliny’s last assignment was that of commander of the fleet in the Bay of Naples, where he was charged with the suppression of piracy. Learning of an unusual cloud formation—later found to have resulted from an eruption of Mount Vesuvius—Pliny went ashore to ascertain the cause and to reassure the terrified citizens. He was overcome by the fumes resulting from the volcanic activity and died on August 24, 79, according to his nephew’s report. Pliny was unmarried and was survived by his only sister.
Seven writings are ascribed to him, of which only the Natural History is extant. There survive, however, a few fragments of his earlier writings on grammar, a biography of Pomponius Secundus, a history of Rome, a study of the Roman campaigns in Germany, and a book on hurling the lance. These writings probably were lost in antiquity and have played no role in perpetuating Pliny’s fame, which rests solely on the Natural History.
Britannica Quiz
Quiz: Ancient Illustrations Showing Us the Way
The Natural History, divided into 37 libri, or “books,” was completed, except for finishing touches, in 77 ce. In the preface, dedicated to Titus (who became emperor shortly before Pliny’s death), Pliny justified the title and explained his purpose on utilitarian grounds as the study of “the nature of things, that is, life” (“Preface,” 13). Heretofore, he continued, no one had attempted to bring together the older, scattered material that belonged to “encyclic culture” (enkyklios paideia, the origin of the word encyclopaedia). Disdaining high literary style and political mythology, Pliny adopted a plain style—but one with an unusually rich vocabulary—as best suited to his purpose. A novel feature of the Natural History is the care taken by Pliny in naming his sources, more than 100 of which are mentioned. Book I, in fact, is a summary of the remaining 36 books, listing the authors and sometimes the titles of the books (many of which are now lost) from which Pliny derived his material.
The Natural History properly begins with Book II, which is devoted to cosmology and astronomy. Here, as elsewhere, Pliny demonstrated the extent of his reading, especially of Greek texts. By the same token, however, he was sometimes careless in translating details, with the result that he distorted the meaning of many technical and mathematical passages. In Books III through VI, on the physical and historical geography of the ancient world, he gave much attention to major cities, some of which no longer exist.
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- Jerry Stannard
Jun 12, 2014 · The long history of the Roman Empire is no different, for it can boast of the celebrated works of such men as Ovid, Virgil, Suetonius, and Tacitus. However, one individual often unrecognized by present-day readers surpasses all others - history simply remembers him as Pliny the Elder.
- Donald L. Wasson
Pliny the Elder wrote the world’s first encyclopedia. His Natural History contained over a million words in 37 volumes. Pliny attempted to document all known facts about the natural world.
Gaius Plinius Secundus, the man we know as Pliny the Elder, was born in Como, Italy, in A.D. 23. By the time he died 56 years later, he had been a cavalry officer, an adviser to emperors and...
Gaius Plinius Secundus or Pliny the Elder (b. 23/4–d. 79 CE) is famous for two things: his monumental Natural History (Historia naturalis), which describes the world in thirty-seven volumes, and his death in the eruption of Vesuvius, which was carefully described by his nephew, Pliny the Younger, in one of two letters about his uncle that ...
Jun 8, 2018 · Pliny the Elder (23-79) was a Roman encyclopedist. His greatest and only surviving work, the Natural History, has been called one of the most influential books ever written in Latin. Pliny whose full name was Gaius Plinius Secundus, was born at Comum in the region north of the Po River and was educated in Rome.
