Gaius Plinius Secundu
Born: 23 A.D.
Birthplace: Como, Italy
Died: 24 August 79 A.D. (Got too close to an erupting volcano)
Best Known As: The author of Natural History
Gaius Plinius Secundas (Pliny the Elder) was a Roman official and military officer who also wrote as a naturalist, biographer and historian. He is most known for his only extant work, a 37-volume Natural History that served as the basis for scientific knowledge for centuries. Pliny wrote in Latin, using mostly Greek sources and his own observations (and vivid imagination). In 79 A.D., when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, Pliny was a naval commander at the Bay of Naples. While attempting to get closer to the volcano and possibly effect a rescue, Pliny was overcome with fumes and died.
Born: 23 A.D.
Birthplace: Como, Italy
Died: 24 August 79 A.D. (Got too close to an erupting volcano)
Best Known As: The author of Natural History
Gaius Plinius Secundas (Pliny the Elder) was a Roman official and military officer who also wrote as a naturalist, biographer and historian. He is most known for his only extant work, a 37-volume Natural History that served as the basis for scientific knowledge for centuries. Pliny wrote in Latin, using mostly Greek sources and his own observations (and vivid imagination). In 79 A.D., when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, Pliny was a naval commander at the Bay of Naples. While attempting to get closer to the volcano and possibly effect a rescue, Pliny was overcome with fumes and died.
His nephew Pliny the Younger also was a writer and historian, as well as a Roman senator.
Gaius Plinius Secundus was a famous Roman scientific encyclopedist and historian. He surveyed all the known sciences of his day, astronomy, meteorology, geography, mineralogy, zoology, and botany. Most of his works are lost, but his book Historia naturalis (Natural History) still exists. No single work of Pliny still exists, but many of them were copied, complete or in excerpts, multiple times. So today numerous copies of many of his works exist, which gives some security that they are authentic.
Plinius was born in Como, studied in Rome and then became soldier, which was a typical career for a Roman aristocrat. He became a cavalry commander in Gallia (France) and Germania (Germany) and a friend of Vespasian. During the reign of Nero he was in foreign countries, which kept him out of harm's way. After Nero died, his friend Vespasian was made emperor in AD 69. So he returned to Rome and took up various public offices.
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