the Elder Pliny

Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in AD 23, Pliny the Elder was a Roman writer, army officer, and imperial official. He spent much of his life gathering facts, stories, and observations about the world, drawing on an enormous range of earlier sources as well as his own experience.

His most famous work, Natural History, is a vast encyclopedia covering subjects from astronomy and geography to animals, plants, medicine, metals, and art. It became one of the best-known works of classical learning and gives modern readers a vivid sense of how Romans tried to understand nature.

Pliny died in AD 79 during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius while serving as commander of the Roman fleet at Misenum. Ancient accounts describe him setting out across the bay during the disaster, and that final episode has remained one of the most memorable parts of his story.