opfcustomer.blogg.se

However, his level of understanding appears to be mixed. Weather is also a popular topic with Pliny. His account of the sun is notably reverential: “ lends his light … to the rest of the stars, is splendid, supreme and sees and hears everything.” Both are personified since the ancient Greeks and Romans assigned gods and goddesses to the sun and moon. Pliny lists the planets as they were known in Classical times: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury, and the moon.Īmong Pliny’s most detailed descriptions are those concerning the sun and the moon. He believed that the earth was spherical, and he shows how this relates to the daily rotation, sunrises, and sunsets. In Book 2 of the Natural History, Pliny the Elder adheres largely to earlier Greek ideas about astronomy. Pliny the Elder on Astronomy and Geography A fresco painting depicting a garden scene, discovered at the House of the Golden Bracelet in Pompeii, 1st century CE, via Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples Turner, circa 1817-1820, via Yale Center for British Art Sadly, he never returned home, and he was later found lying on a beach, having died from suffocation. He narrates how his uncle’s natural curiosity about meteorological events, coupled with his desire to help others, brought him into danger. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, also a famous writer and government official, wrote a detailed account of the day of his death in his Letters.

Pliny the Elder died during the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August 79 CE. Pliny the Younger and his Mother at Misenum AD 79, by Angelica Kauffmann, 1785, via Princeton University Art Museum It was a prestigious military position and one that Pliny took very seriously. His final post was as commander of the naval fleet stationed at Misenum on the Bay of Naples.

Pliny served under both Vespasian and Titus in the late 70s CE, and he gained a notable reputation for integrity during this time. Emperor Vespasian later promoted him to a high-ranking government post. The young Pliny started his career as a lawyer during the reign of Emperor Nero. Pliny the Elder was born into a wealthy family of equestrian rank in Comum, northern Italy, around 23 CE. “ The fortunate man, in my opinion, is he to whom the gods have granted the power either to do something which is worth recording or to write what is worth reading, and most fortunate of all is the man who can do both. Who Was Pliny the Elder, Author of the Natural History ? A print engraving of Pliny the Elder, circa 1584, via British Museum