Haaretz, "Remains Found by Pompeii Really Are Pliny the Elder, New Tests Indicate"
The dig at Stabiae, near Pompeii, where the purported remains of Pliny the Elder were found.Credit: Flavio Russo
Posted on 12/05/2021 8:00:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv
...A century later, the Italian military historian Flavio Russo suggested that the attribution should be settled by scientific investigation. Might an isotopic examination of the teeth reveal where the skull’s owner had spent his childhood? A campaign led by La Stampa eventually raised funds for a study of the relic at the hands of a scientific team fronted by popular historian Andrea Cionci. The results, released in January 2020 at the Museo dell’ Arte Sanitaria, were somewhat ambiguous. Isotopic examination of the lower jaw indicated a childhood consistent with the early life spent by the Elder Pliny in his north Italian hometown of Comum (modern Como). But the ancient owner of the lower jaw was in his 30s – whereas the Elder had died in his 50s. The skull had no upper jaw. Gennaro Matrone, confronted with an incomplete head in 1900, had evidently supplemented the “Pliny” skull with a mandible taken from a nearby corpse. What of the rest of the skull? Examination of the cranial sutures suggested an individual who had died in their 40s or 50s. That, at least, was consistent with the age at death of the Elder.
Is this the skull of the Elder Pliny? Almost certainly not.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.oup.com ...
Haaretz, "Remains Found by Pompeii Really Are Pliny the Elder, New Tests Indicate"
The dig at Stabiae, near Pompeii, where the purported remains of Pliny the Elder were found.Credit: Flavio Russo
Well, I still say there was a second gunman.
Pliny the Elder, father of the encyclopedia salesman (pre webb for you youngsters).
Heads up, people. Pliny the Elder and Younger are huge figures of history.
The elder was a scholar, whose hard work and intelligence elevated him in Roman ranks to the equivalent rank of Admiral. When Vesuvius erupted, his fleet was anchored some distance away. People had no idea what was happening, but his extensive travels had taken him to Etna and he knew about “fire mountains”. He ordered the fleet to set sail for Pompeii and Herculanium, because he was a decent guy and had balls.
They sent boats ashore to rescue people. He led the effort, again because he was a decent guy. He got a lot of people out, but he was ashore when the vertical pyroclastic column collapsed and spread outwards. It killed him, mostly via gases rather than outright heat.
Several miles offshore was an island with his sister and nephew (as I recall, not his son) on it. The Elder had taught the Younger to read and write, which automatically made him significantly elevated in Roman society.
The days of eruption went on the the Younger kept a careful journal of what he was seeing on the mountain. Days of eruption had coated the sea with pumice, which floated. When the column collapsed, the gases and heat walked across the floating pumice and came for the island the Younger and his mom were on. He grabbed his writings and his mom and they sprinted to the other side of island. They survived.
His description of the eruption was so precise and useful for thousands of years afterwards that the Vesuvius type of eruption is called a Plinian after him.
a Plinian eruption . . .
Great post, and a humble thank you.
I think every Latin student has read at least part of Pliney’s account. It’s remarkable to be able to directly access his descriptions.
The Pliny’s are total bad-asses. There are only a handful of non-leaders who are even known from back then, and those are two of them.
Can’t post it, conde-nast, but it reminded me of this topic. No, I’m not saying that Pliny’s remains have been found.
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