The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny

“A wonderfully rich, witty, insightful, and wide-ranging portrait of the two Plinys and their world.”―Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live

When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his thirty-seven-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder’s notebooks―filled with pearls of wisdom―and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire from the dire days of terror under Emperor Domitian to the gentler times of Emperor Trajan. A biography that will appeal to lovers of Mary Beard books, it is also a moving narrative about the profound influence of a father figure on his adopted son. Interweaving the younger Pliny’s Letters with extracts from the Elder’s Natural History, Daisy Dunn paints a vivid, compellingly readable portrait of two of antiquity’s greatest minds.

8 illustrations

Daisy Dunn is an award-­winning author, classicist, and cultural critic based in London. She is a leading authority in her field and a regular commentator and columnist, writing for The Spectator and Literary Review. She is also the author of The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World. Follow her on Instagram @daisydunnauthor.