Witness to the Great Eruption

By H. Stauffer

        Hello, I am Haley Stauffer, in for Kurt Sheppard on this nights’ Acta Diurna news. On the fateful morning of August 24 A.D. 79, Pompeii was completely buried under 75 feet of ash when the nearby volcano, Mt. Vesuvius erupted. No one survived, however one man, Pliny the Younger was the only witness to record the events. 

Today we will discuss the significance of Pliny the Younger and argue how accurate his observations of this great eruption are.

When Pliny’s uncle, Pliny the Elder attempted to save people during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, he unfortunately died across the Bay of Naples at Stabiae. Pliny the Younger however stayed back at Misenum and was able to witness the events from there. Pliny the Younger then wrote two letters to Tacitus, a historian who recorded what we now know of Pliny the Elder’s death and the great eruption of Mt. Vesuvius itself.

With me now is the one and only Pliny the Younger!

Pliny: Thank you Haley, it’s great to be here.

Good to have you! So tell me Pliny, what was the actual eruption of Mt. Vesuvius like?

Pliny: "You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one unending night for the world."

Wow. Sounds like it was very traumatic. How long did this all last and how were you able to survive such a catastrophe?

Pliny: “It all lasted for 19 hours” and well, my uncle Pliny the Elder was stationed with his men at the time of the eruption across the Bay of Naples at Misenum. I guess you could consider it luck that I was fortunate to not have been with him trying to get closer to the eruption.

So you and your uncle were very close then I assume, if you were in the same part of the Roman army?

Pliny: Well, I was orphaned at an early age and had Virginius Rufus, an important general in the Roman army as my tutor. I was later adopted by Pliny the Elder and given my name.

Oh wow. So Pliny the Younger isn’t really your true name?

Pliny: No, my real name is Gaius Plinius Caecilus Secundus.

Interesting.  And what type of experience do you have with documenting historical events?

Pliny: Not much. I was a lawyer, an author, and a natural philosopher of Ancient Rome but I haven’t dealt with a lot of historical documentation.

Are you familiar with different writing types?

Pliny: Oh, why yes. I love writing. I started at the age of fourteen writing poetry and I have always been fascinated by the Greek Tragedy style of writing.

So, in your words Pliny, what exactly took place during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius?

Pliny: From what I have seen, “several earth tremors were felt at the same time of the eruption and were followed by a very violent shaking of the ground. Ash was falling in very thick sheets and the village had to be evacuated. The sea was sucked away and apparently forced back by an earthquake. An enormous cloud of smoke that seemed to rise like a tree trunk and then spread its branches like a pine tree formed over the city of Pompeii. This large dark cloud from the eruption fell over the ground and covered the sea. Time seemed to freeze.”

This sounds very serious. We are very lucky to have had you at the scene, I’m sure our knowledge on volcanoes has increased significantly because of it.

Pliny: Well, I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time I suppose.

Yes, well please tell us your comments on how accurate you think Pliny the Younger’s sightings are below this posting. Thank you and from everyone here at Acta Diurna News, I’m Haley Stauffer.

Comments On accuracy of Pliny the Younger’s sightings of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius:

John Mcally says:  “I don’t believe one bit of what Pliny the Younger is trying to feed the public. I think that this is all just one big scandal so that he can get some money. Who witnesses an eruption of such caliber and gets away with their life. It’s just too unbelievable.”

31 people Like this

Cristie Lower says: “Look, Pliny the Younger is a writer, he could have made all of this stuff up because he has all of the terminology stuck in his big head. This is just crazy to believe and I don’t buy it.”

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Bradley Schnizer says: “What are you guys talking about!? This actually happened! If anyone could describe it, the best person to do that would be a writer. Do you really think that someone would make up a story about how their uncle died? No. Pliny the Younger had good motive to write to Tacitus, he wanted his uncle’s memory to be remembered, and by doing so he provided the rest of the Roman people with well needed information.”

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Synthia Ramos says: “Pliny the Younger is the bomb! I was in his orphanage before he was adopted and he would never make up something as serious as a volcano eruption!”

             10 people Like this

Richard Goldstein says: “You guys are all stupid. History is made up of lies.”

                                         2 people Like this

Charlie Wither says: “Reading these comments makes me laugh. Who really cares? At least we know now what a volcano eruption kind of looks like. What does it matter if it was all made up. All I know is that I don’t have my distant cousin anymore because apparently she was covered in 9 ft of ash and “frozen in time”. Thanks guys.

             5 people Like this

Jacob Demeter says: “I am a scientist and I have always been fascinated with volcano eruptions. Based on what Pliny the Younger has described for us, I would consider his observations to be 85% accurate.”

             8 people Like this

Jasmine Gallipso says: “Who cares if an entire city was wiped out by a volcano! Omg were all going to die sometime anyway, get over it.”

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Zach Littler says: “Histry is a w8ste of tim3. No body l3arns anyting anyway. Pliny is rite though.”

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Alyssa Manilo says: “Pliny the Younger is my favorite writer! His words feed to my soul. All you people that think he made this up are really heartless. He’s the best there ever was, and best there ever will be. Our first journalist!! Come on NOW!!