author
the Younger Pliny
b. 61
Best known for his vivid letters, this Roman writer left one of the clearest firsthand accounts of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. His work also opens a lively window onto law, politics, friendship, and daily life in the early Roman Empire.
2 Audiobooks
Letters of Pliny
by the Younger Pliny
The Letters of the Younger Pliny, First Series — Volume 1
by the Younger Pliny
About the author
Born in 61 CE in Comum, in northern Italy, Pliny the Younger was a Roman lawyer, author, and imperial official. After the death of his father, he was raised and educated by his uncle, Pliny the Elder, whose name he later took.
He is remembered above all for his surviving letters, which range from polished literary pieces to sharp observations about public life. Two of the most famous describe the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE and the death of his uncle, making Pliny one of the most important eyewitnesses to that disaster.
Pliny also served under Emperor Trajan and governed Bithynia-Pontus, where his official correspondence shows him as careful, practical, and deeply engaged in the duties of office. Together, his letters have endured not just as literature, but as one of the richest portraits of everyday elite life in ancient Rome.