First-Hand Account of the Destruction of Pompeii // Pliny The Younger, Primary Source

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  • Опубліковано 10 сер 2019
  • Here we have Pliny the Younger's account of the heroic death of his famous uncle Pliny the Elder in the chaos of a volcanic eruption, the same that flattened Pompeii - as related to the legendary Roman historian Tacitus in one of his numerous letters.
    How do we actually know about history? Voices of the Past is a channel dedicated to recreating the original accounts from the people who lived through events, or who lived far closer to them than we do today. We do this word for word, with an accompanying soundtrack of rousing music and images.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 111

  • @Tflexxx02
    @Tflexxx02 4 роки тому +147

    Pliny the Younger also methodically, and almost scientifically, recorded for posterity his observations of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, to the point that modern volcanologists can recognize from his writings the phases of the volcano's eruption. I believe he was located across the Bay of Naples from Vesuvius.

    • @MxT4ever
      @MxT4ever 3 роки тому +3

      He was in Misenum

    • @JP-rf8rr
      @JP-rf8rr 2 роки тому +3

      He also wrote it about 20 years after the eruption.

    • @alemalvina7624
      @alemalvina7624 2 роки тому

      Amazing

    • @divermike8943
      @divermike8943 Рік тому +3

      Pline the Younger was across the Bay of Naples. His Uncle, Pliny the Elder, was commander of the Roman Navy there. Misenum was on a peninsula just west of Naples. It's shown on the map in the video, as is Stabiae where Pliny the Elder sailed in an attempt to rescue whomever he could.

    • @MrTsiolkovsky
      @MrTsiolkovsky 2 місяці тому

      His Villa is on interest to landscape architects etc. very interesting guy

  • @jamestown8398
    @jamestown8398 4 роки тому +100

    He died trying to rescue people. He deserves respect for that. Rest in peace, Pliny. Ave atque vale ...

    • @missymoonwillow6545
      @missymoonwillow6545 2 роки тому +4

      Funny how the great ones like this have no physical remains left behind..... Moses too.

    • @lisaborsella5412
      @lisaborsella5412 6 місяців тому

      Pliny the Elder tried to save people

  • @allanjohnson8951
    @allanjohnson8951 4 роки тому +120

    1:43 Not those kinds of pine trees, but umbrella pines. They aren't common outside the Mediterranean, imagine a palm-tree-like trunk with a broad, dense canopy about as wide as the tree is tall.

    • @VoicesofthePast
      @VoicesofthePast  4 роки тому +36

      Thanks Nick! That does make more sense.

    • @Dhhdjdjdj46
      @Dhhdjdjdj46 4 роки тому +11

      Thats brilliant, when you see them it makes complete sense. An unusually primative looking tree to be honest

    • @TheLolol94
      @TheLolol94 4 роки тому +13

      @@VoicesofthePast www.giardinaggio.org/giardino/alberi-conifere/pinus-pinea.asp this kind of tree, the article is in italian, just look at the pictures

    • @yvonnecampbell7036
      @yvonnecampbell7036 4 роки тому +6

      @@TheLolol94 Cool, thanks.

    • @lmonk9517
      @lmonk9517 4 роки тому +5

      @@TheLolol94 I went to pompeii and these sort of pines are all over the surrounding area.

  • @xmaniac99
    @xmaniac99 4 роки тому +159

    His uncle was a true hero commanding the navy evacuating people from Pompeii and dying on the shore.

    • @jelleschelfthout3636
      @jelleschelfthout3636 4 роки тому +15

      Pliny the Elder never went to Pompeii, he set sail for Rectina and her husband Tascus (which he never reached)

    • @missymoonwillow6545
      @missymoonwillow6545 2 роки тому +3

      @@jelleschelfthout3636 It's interesting how this character disappears himself oh so conveniently. I got a theory I'm working on, and it involves very VERY long life for a select few. I suspect Pliny to be the immortal scribe for mankind, none other than Enoch/Hermes/Thoth... he's got VERY distinct language writing style, and his manuscripts evolve over time as he becomes someone else. All famous ancient minded men from our history... but he's definitely there... guiding our minds the best he can with his works. The path of the holy alchemist is defined not by his ego, but by his devotion and faith to the greater work... This guy Pliny is a wonderment. He has me following him throughout our living history. Wisdom is the way to knowledge.

    • @omy785
      @omy785 Рік тому +2

      @@missymoonwillow6545 Quit sniffing glue

  • @qboxer
    @qboxer 4 роки тому +53

    Excellent, thank you. I adore these letters.

  • @GideonStahl
    @GideonStahl 4 роки тому +36

    This was very enjoyable and the various clips greatly enchanced the presentation. Hearing this account reminded of when I first studied this natural disaster a long time ago. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into this video.

  • @recar38
    @recar38 4 роки тому +20

    This channel is a blessing

  • @mivapusa
    @mivapusa 4 роки тому +32

    Pliny the Younger: "Today was not a great day..."

  • @gjdoc2
    @gjdoc2 4 роки тому +9

    Wow his words do more than any TV series or movie could ever do, amazing how he could remain calm in all that terrifying madeness

  • @TheArmyStegui
    @TheArmyStegui 4 роки тому +13

    Well done! Read this in a couple of my Classics courses in college. Loved hearing it read.

  • @KowboyUSA
    @KowboyUSA 4 роки тому +51

    For a couple generations, at least, astute observations were a family trait.

  • @BrettonFerguson
    @BrettonFerguson 3 роки тому +14

    "Send a boat to rescue me quick" How did she send him a message for help? She didn't use her cell phone. She had to have sent a messenger. Unless she had a himing pigeon trained to go to Pliny the Elder's boat, she had to have sent a human messenger. If this is the case, she could have left with the messenger, or instead of the messenger. Unless the messenger swam the whole way. I'm guessing the messenger left on a very small boat, and she needed a bigger boat for all her stuff and her family. She should have left with the messenger.

    • @luciano9755
      @luciano9755 2 роки тому +5

      True, but people didn't know the full extent of the phenomenon. For them it must've been like a glorified earthquake at first, so she had the time to send a letter to Pliny. During that time rich people probably were used to temporarily evacuate their homes to accomodate their personal stuff in another one of their properties.

  • @jsoth2675
    @jsoth2675 4 роки тому +7

    All time favorite channel. Thanks for your hard work.

  • @giorgiamarino1882
    @giorgiamarino1882 4 роки тому +14

    hey you put the wrong kind of pine tree in the video. He is referring to the "roman pine" or "stone pine" a pine shaped like a savannah tree

  • @anasevi9456
    @anasevi9456 4 роки тому +8

    incredible reading, thank you!

  • @phillips9738
    @phillips9738 4 роки тому +6

    Thank you, i always loved this story.

  • @theblackprince1346
    @theblackprince1346 4 роки тому +3

    Nice one, been hoping for a video on this for sometime.

  • @deanbuss1678
    @deanbuss1678 4 роки тому +3

    Last three sentences were epically profound
    Great video ! 👍

  • @evershumor1302
    @evershumor1302 4 роки тому +3

    This is a really great channel!

  • @stevenconroy5864
    @stevenconroy5864 4 роки тому +7

    Great story enjoyed it very much excellent choice

  • @simonlavelle5572
    @simonlavelle5572 3 роки тому

    Great stuff
    So glad I found this channel :)

  • @annalisette5897
    @annalisette5897 4 роки тому +3

    That is such an eloquent letter!

  • @elgatto3133
    @elgatto3133 4 роки тому +8

    Rest in peace Plinius Secundus.

  • @DeborahLArmstrong
    @DeborahLArmstrong 3 роки тому

    Very nice job!

  • @oliversmith9200
    @oliversmith9200 4 роки тому +3

    Wonderful, and well read.

  • @chris7372
    @chris7372 4 роки тому +10

    So Pliny the younger didn't die too cause he'd rather keep up his work

  • @tf1090c
    @tf1090c 3 роки тому

    I was hoping you had uploaded a reading of this text. It’s one of the few texts from classical antiquity (that I know of) that I just couldn’t take my eyes off

  • @babachlovari4782
    @babachlovari4782 2 роки тому

    Stunning

  • @shipwreck9146
    @shipwreck9146 4 роки тому +7

    There were around 20,000 people living in Pompeii, and 1,500 bodies have been found. The total amount of deaths is unknown, some estimates ranging around 2,000

    • @tinkywinky1238
      @tinkywinky1238 3 роки тому +3

      About half of Pompeii is yet to be excavated

    • @shipwreck9146
      @shipwreck9146 3 роки тому +1

      @The 2nd To Last Of The Albino Mexheecans A "Good" scenario, would be if there was a law that everyone in Pompeii was required to be on the mainland for the Augustus celebrations and the Vulcanalia festival, then they'd all sail back to pompeii a few days later, and they'd be like, "Oh fuck, what happened to my lawn?"

    • @hail2redskins1
      @hail2redskins1 Рік тому +1

      @@tinkywinky1238 I was just in Pompeii a few months ago. It was utterly captivating. One of the coolest experiences of my life. Easily top 3. I couldn’t get over how intact the city is. Still has writing and paintings on the walls. The taverns have marble facade that look almost new. I can send some pics if you want to see.

  • @SuperNintendawg
    @SuperNintendawg 4 роки тому +7

    Pretty metal way to die when you think about it

  • @iant419
    @iant419 4 роки тому +3

    Why don't you link to source materials???

  • @sepiae
    @sepiae 3 роки тому +4

    Did I hear right, did he really say that his uncle went for a *nap* in the midst of all this?

  • @dionadair8195
    @dionadair8195 2 роки тому +3

    This guy legit took the time to note that his dead uncle was fat and had a snoring problem.

  • @ufosrus
    @ufosrus 4 роки тому +2

    What a terrifying scene But I still don't understand why the elder Pliny did not set sail when he picked up his friend. Was it that it was just as dangerous as staying on land?

  • @joaovictorhasse1630
    @joaovictorhasse1630 2 роки тому

    4:25 literal chills.

  • @Dhhdjdjdj46
    @Dhhdjdjdj46 4 роки тому +7

    Is this where fortune favors the brave comes from?

    • @Wayzor_
      @Wayzor_ 4 роки тому +15

      It's from an older Latin poem, the "Aeneid" by Virgil, so the Elder was quoting something already present in the culture.

    • @Dhhdjdjdj46
      @Dhhdjdjdj46 4 роки тому +5

      @@Wayzor_ Cheers my dude, classical literature has never been a strong point. Ever since uni I've avoided everything to do with anything classical, until this channel popped up 😂

  • @jadenmax679
    @jadenmax679 4 роки тому +1

    Cool.

  • @humanliberty1
    @humanliberty1 9 днів тому

    This was actually a secondhand account, but still very good.

  • @RonJohn63
    @RonJohn63 4 роки тому +3

    Pliny the Elder fell asleep instead of sailing away. Is that because the wind was blowing onshore?

  • @craignunnallypurcell
    @craignunnallypurcell 2 роки тому

    Receiving a note - better than email…

  • @knuppelgast
    @knuppelgast Рік тому +1

    I remember having to translate parts of this for Latin in highschool

  • @johndaugherty4127
    @johndaugherty4127 2 роки тому

    Amazing map of Vesuvias from the air.

  • @jsoth2675
    @jsoth2675 4 роки тому +1

    Should do some late bronze age tablets

  • @Tony-Blake
    @Tony-Blake 4 роки тому +6

    The consensus is that Pliny the Elder died of a heart attack.

    • @richardhunter7662
      @richardhunter7662 4 роки тому +1

      Yeah,where does it say that ,u have a link?

    • @Tony-Blake
      @Tony-Blake 4 роки тому +2

      @@richardhunter7662 No, but you can probably find it on Google, MIs are standard fare for fat, elderly men. If the cause of had solely been suffocation by fumes, his companions would have succumbed too.

    • @Tony-Blake
      @Tony-Blake 4 роки тому +6

      Your Latin teacher could well be correct, McOinky. An asthma attack would explain why he succumbed to the fumes when his companions did not.

    • @alexe184
      @alexe184 4 роки тому +4

      @@stickemuppunkitsthefunlovi4733 he has the name 'elder' to distinguish between him and his nephew, Pliny the younger

    • @94Newbie
      @94Newbie 4 роки тому +5

      @@Tony-Blake not necessarily. he was lying down. the mix of toxic gasses from volcanoes is usually heavier than air and can form a cloud close to the ground.

  • @romanz4891
    @romanz4891 4 роки тому +1

    What did he mean lights of various kinds? I mean other than fire what could they be using for light? 7:37

    • @Martin_Daniel
      @Martin_Daniel 4 роки тому +3

      He means torches, candles, oil lamps...

  • @VirrealWorld
    @VirrealWorld 2 роки тому

    And to the public he wrote!

  • @wheaties2912
    @wheaties2912 4 роки тому +2

    Pummice has a soft U, it's not pewmis stone it's pummice.

  • @The_Bookman
    @The_Bookman 3 роки тому +1

    A delightful presentation. Thank you. Those very fake... James T. Kirk... pauses in the... reading though, are hopefully... a modern... affliction that soon will pass. Thanks to the reader too. Apart from the weird, curiously modern pauses for which I am so heartlessly ribbing him, he did... a good... job.

  • @charleskeefer9030
    @charleskeefer9030 4 роки тому

    Nine manned twyns from gpdc.

  • @yvonnecampbell7036
    @yvonnecampbell7036 4 роки тому +9

    Generation today wouldn't know How to write a letter......a selfie wouldn't survive.

  • @alecmisra4964
    @alecmisra4964 4 роки тому +3

    A willing sacrifice to the volcano god.

    • @davidkelly4210
      @davidkelly4210 4 роки тому

      @17mohara Hara VULCAN, Hephaestus was Greek. Contrary to myth, the Roman and Greek religions were related but distinct, the Romans being animistic at their core.

  • @algutgeutschwin1511
    @algutgeutschwin1511 4 роки тому

    F

  • @grugnotice7746
    @grugnotice7746 4 роки тому +3

    Imagine how much better history class would have been in school with firsthand accounts like these rather than tainted and twisted history books. I'd like to hear some firsthand accounts from the great losers of history, whom history has been so unkind to.

  • @yowut8075
    @yowut8075 4 роки тому +1

    Pliny 2 mourned Pliny 1 because he was in the will. Change my mind

    • @reallyhappenings5597
      @reallyhappenings5597 4 роки тому

      I'd rather not.

    • @LostArchivist
      @LostArchivist 4 роки тому +2

      Not sure wills as we know them existed then. Either way, Elder had a wife. Also, the text states why Pliny the Younger wrote the text. It was at the bequest of the historian Tacitus according to the video description.

    • @elgatto3133
      @elgatto3133 4 роки тому

      @@LostArchivist they existed

    • @davidkelly4210
      @davidkelly4210 4 роки тому +1

      @glyn hodges Roman lawyers were really something. 1 guy managed to get a childless woman child support. lol