Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook8 hours
The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny
Written by Daisy Dunn
Narrated by Mike Grady
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBlackstone Publishing
Release dateFeb 8, 2020
ISBN9781094021218
Author
Daisy Dunn
Daisy Dunn was born in London in 1987 and read Classics at the University of Oxford, before winning a scholarship to the Courtauld and completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at University College London. She writes and reviews for many publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, and Standpoint, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture magazine. She was longlisted for the 2015 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize.
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Reviews for The Shadow of Vesuvius
Rating: 3.6363636363636362 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
22 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Jul 2, 2023
Enjoyed reading this, learning a lot about both Pliny’s and history of Rome in the first Century. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Dec 30, 2019
Unusual and spellbinding biography of Pliny the Younger, with much mention of Pliny the Elder and the latter's influence on him. Divided thematically into several parts, called by the names of seasons, from "Aut-" cycling through to another "umn" each begins with something of that season, branching off into other facets of Pliny's life, times, and personality. The impressive Como Cathedral is graced with statues of Como's two native sons, "pagans" though they be. Pliny the Younger was especially generous to his hometown.
Highly recommended.