Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger.Pliny the Younger lived from 61 AD to 112 AD, and is world-famous for his letters to his friend and colleagues, detailing his life and consequently giving us information as to what it was like to live in Ancient Roman society. What Pliny is most commonly known for though is his letters to his friend Tacitus about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, in the eruption which his uncle Pliny the Elder died. Pliny the Younger was living with his uncle and his mother at Cape Misenum in the Bay of Naples during the time in which the eruption occurred. 25 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Tacitus asked Pliny what had happened to his uncle on the day of the eruption, and Pliny told him, leading to the modern world being able to get an idea of what happened on the day of the eruption.
In the letters to Tacitus, Pliny describes first seeing the cloud emanating from the volcano, as "likening it to a pine tree. It rose into the sky on a very long "trunk" from which spread some "branches." I imagine it had been raised by a sudden blast, which then weakened, leaving the cloud unsupported so that its own weight caused it to spread sideways. Some of the cloud was white, in other parts there were dark patches of dirt and ash." Pliny then goes on to explain how his uncle went to go see what was happening, by taking a boat across the Bay of Naples nearer to the mountain. However his uncle died due to suffocating on the air, which was now filled with noxious gas and ash. In Pliny's second letter to Tacitus, he describes what he and his mother did during the eruption, namely remaining at home until a passer-by warned them that they should leave as it was no longer safe. When Pliny talks of how he and his mother finally fled, he describes what was happening around him and how others were reacting to the eruption: " I look back: a dense cloud looms behind us, following us like a flood poured across the land... We had scarcely sat down when a darkness came that was not like a moonless or cloudy night, but more like the black of closed and unlighted rooms. You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. Some were calling for parents, others for children or spouses; they could only recognize them by their voices...There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one last unending night for the world. Nor were we without people who magnified real dangers with fictitious horrors. Some announced that one or another part of Misenum had collapsed or burned; lies, but they found believers. It grew lighter, though that seemed not a return of day, but a sign that the fire was approaching." Pliny's letters to Tacitus are crucial to understanding what happened on the day of the eruption and its aftermath, because apart from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum his letters are the only other primary sources that can be found. However, Pliny's letters may also be inaccurate, as some events that he said occurred on that day have never been proven to be true. For example, Pliny states that"the sea was being sucked backwards", which would indicate towards there being a tsunami, however no proof has ever been found that a tsunami did occur on that day, so therefore it can become difficult to decide what is actually true and what could be false. As Pliny also wrote these letters 25 year after the eruption, it is possible that he may have forgotten important pieces of information or changed what had happened accidentally which then causes his letters to lose some of their credibility as his letters may become more inaccurate depending on how much he remembers.
In the letters to Tacitus, Pliny describes first seeing the cloud emanating from the volcano, as "likening it to a pine tree. It rose into the sky on a very long "trunk" from which spread some "branches." I imagine it had been raised by a sudden blast, which then weakened, leaving the cloud unsupported so that its own weight caused it to spread sideways. Some of the cloud was white, in other parts there were dark patches of dirt and ash." Pliny then goes on to explain how his uncle went to go see what was happening, by taking a boat across the Bay of Naples nearer to the mountain. However his uncle died due to suffocating on the air, which was now filled with noxious gas and ash. In Pliny's second letter to Tacitus, he describes what he and his mother did during the eruption, namely remaining at home until a passer-by warned them that they should leave as it was no longer safe. When Pliny talks of how he and his mother finally fled, he describes what was happening around him and how others were reacting to the eruption: " I look back: a dense cloud looms behind us, following us like a flood poured across the land... We had scarcely sat down when a darkness came that was not like a moonless or cloudy night, but more like the black of closed and unlighted rooms. You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. Some were calling for parents, others for children or spouses; they could only recognize them by their voices...There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one last unending night for the world. Nor were we without people who magnified real dangers with fictitious horrors. Some announced that one or another part of Misenum had collapsed or burned; lies, but they found believers. It grew lighter, though that seemed not a return of day, but a sign that the fire was approaching." Pliny's letters to Tacitus are crucial to understanding what happened on the day of the eruption and its aftermath, because apart from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum his letters are the only other primary sources that can be found. However, Pliny's letters may also be inaccurate, as some events that he said occurred on that day have never been proven to be true. For example, Pliny states that"the sea was being sucked backwards", which would indicate towards there being a tsunami, however no proof has ever been found that a tsunami did occur on that day, so therefore it can become difficult to decide what is actually true and what could be false. As Pliny also wrote these letters 25 year after the eruption, it is possible that he may have forgotten important pieces of information or changed what had happened accidentally which then causes his letters to lose some of their credibility as his letters may become more inaccurate depending on how much he remembers.