Pliny the Elder’s last port uncovered

[guy]

 

Archaeologists have uncovered the Roman port Miseno (Misenum) at the Bay of Naples. It was here that Pliny the Elder was the praefect in charge of the naval fleet that later embarked on its ill-fated rescue mission to Pompeii in AD 79.

 

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/01/roman-villa-complex-found-at-miseno/150244

[guidoLaMoto]

This complex is found built right up to the water's edge--  Pliny's villa or the world's first Sandals Resort?

Minor point- the article states that Pliny died of "asphyxiation", but more likely it was from status asthmaticus induced by breathing the powdery pumice filling the air. Others around him would have died too had it really been from breathing 'poisonous air."...Pliny the Younger says his uncle was prone to frequent episodes of "closure of the windpipe" (sounds like asthma), that he was already suffering, asking for cold water supplied by others who were not suffering, and that before dying suddenly, he was being supported by two slaves as they tried to escape along the beach....

"...semel atque iterum frigidam aquam poposcit hausitque. Deinde flammae flammarumque praenuntius odor sulpuris alios in fugam vertunt, excitant illum. [19] Innitens servolis duobus assurrexit et statim concidit, ut ego colligo, crassiore caligine spiritu obstructo, clausoque stomacho qui illi natura invalidus et angustus et frequenter aestuans erat."  https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Ep.+6.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0139

"...he repeatedly asked for cold water to drink.  Then the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to stand up.  He stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense fumes choked his breathing by blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often inflamed." https://www.u.arizona.edu/~afutrell/404b/web rdgs/pliny on vesuvius.htm

Here's a fairly good summary of Pliny the Younger's letter to Tacitus, the primary source describing the Vesuvius eruption & The Elder's death at Misenum. https://www.thecollector.com/pliny-the-elder-death/

 

[Crispina]

Thanks for sharing.