Bajo la sombra del Vesubio : Vida de Plinio

When Pliny the Elder—traveler, historian, and admiral of the imperial fleet—died at Stabiae during the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he left behind the thirty-seven books of his *Natural History*—a magnificent compendium covering knowledge on a vast array of subjects, ranging from the moon and the plant kingdom to the efficacy of centipedes in healing ulcers—and a teenage nephew who revered him. Pliny the Younger inherited his uncle’s notebooks—filled with wisdom and brilliant insights—and dedicated his life to keeping his legacy alive. A friend of the historian Tacitus, the biographer Suetonius, and the poet Martial, he was also a collector of villas, a lawyer, a senator, and a chronicler of the Roman Empire, spanning the era from the dark days of terror under Domitian’s rule to the more peaceful times of the Emperor Trajan.