The Shadow of Vesuvius
A Life of Pliny
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Narrated by:
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Mike Grady
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By:
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Daisy Dunn
About this listen
When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his 37-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder's notebooks - filled with pearls of wisdom - and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire from the dire days of terror under Emperor Domitian to the gentler times of Emperor Trajan. A biography that will appeal to lovers of Mary Beard books, it is also a moving narrative about the profound influence of a father figure on his adopted son. Interweaving the younger Pliny's Letters with extracts from the Elder's Natural History, Daisy Dunn paints a vivid, compelling portrait of two of antiquity's greatest minds.
©2019 Daisy Dunn (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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Denied citizenship by the Roman Empire, a soldier named Alaric changed history by unleashing a surprise attack on the capital city of an unjust empire. Stigmatized and relegated to the margins of Roman society, the Goths were violent "barbarians" who destroyed "civilization," at least in the conventional story of Rome's collapse. But a slight shift of perspective brings their history, and ours, shockingly alive.
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Can't finish it.
- By Stan K. Smith on 06-21-20
By: Douglas Boin
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The Twelve Caesars
- By: Suetonius
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The Twelve Caesars was written based on the information of eyewitnesses and public records. It conveys a very accurate picture of court life in Rome and contains some of the raciest and most salacious material to be found in all of ancient literature. The writing is clear, simple and easy to understand, and the numerous anecdotes of juicy scandal, bitter court intrigue, and murderous brigandage easily hold their own against the most spirited content of today's tabloids.
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A pleasure to read...
- By Robyn C. Blaber on 03-13-10
By: Suetonius
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Lives of the Twelve Caesars
- By: Suetonius
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
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Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns.
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Translation doubts
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-07
By: Suetonius
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The Buried Book
- The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh
- By: David Damrosch
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
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One day in 1872, self-taught Assyriologist George Smith was sifting through a pile of clay tablets when he realized he was reading about "a flood, storm, a ship caught on a mountain, and a bird sent out in search of dry land". This is the riveting story of the discovery of the world's first literary epic, the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
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interesting- but not for everyone
- By J Michael on 07-16-08
By: David Damrosch
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Prince Albert
- The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
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Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.
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Excellent Bio!
- By Nancy on 04-24-24
By: A. N. Wilson
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Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea
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- Narrated by: John Lee
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Best selling history writer Thomas Cahill continues his series on the roots of Western civilization with this volume about the contributions of ancient Greece to the development of contemporary culture. Tracing the origin of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European horsemen into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, he follows their progress into the creation of the Greek city-states, the refinement of their machinery of war, and the flowering of intellectual and artistic culture.
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Super super
- By Richard on 12-28-03
By: Thomas Cahill
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The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
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Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
By: Alain de Botton
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Papyrus
- The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
- By: Irene Vallejo, Charlotte Whittle - translator
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
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Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand-copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world, all the while illuminating how ancient ideas about education, censorship, authority, and identity still resonate today.
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Great read
- By Hunter Pechin on 12-15-22
By: Irene Vallejo, and others
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Isak Dinesen
- The Life of a Storyteller
- By: Judith Thurman
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
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Isak Dinesen earned international fame for Seven Gothic Tales and Out of Africa, and other stories that skillfully combine elements of fable, social conflict, and psychological drama. She was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Yet the story of her life - her travels, affairs, and friendships - remains the greatest story of all.
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over-written
- By Jacqui Good on 10-19-18
By: Judith Thurman
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The Roman Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
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Edith Hamilton shows us Rome through the eyes of the Romans. Plautus and Terence, Cicero and Caesar, Catullus, Horace, Virgil, and Augustus come to life in their ambitions, their work, their loves and hates. In them we see reflected a picture of Roman life very different from that fixed in our minds through schoolroom days, and far livelier.
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Not so bad
- By steve on 04-25-11
By: Edith Hamilton
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The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books
- Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library
- By: Edward Wilson-Lee
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
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The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books tells the story of the first and greatest visionary of the print age, a man who saw how the explosive expansion of knowledge and information generated by the advent of the printing press would entirely change the landscape of thought and society. He also happened to be Christopher Columbus’ illegitimate son.
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Erudite. Stimulating. Rewarding.
- By R. P. RIBEYRE on 10-26-20
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What listeners say about The Shadow of Vesuvius
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Banyan
- 12-14-24
A nice breezy look at the Plinies.
I enjoyed this. What most interested me was the ignorance of the scholarly Pliny the Elder. He seems a satire on modern day professors. Don’t expect striking insights into these two men but you may learn enough that you will want to learn more.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-15-23
good, but could've been better
the book too much depends on uncritical repetition of a few prime sources without questioning them.
it is at its best when it comes to the subject of Pliny's legacy in Renaissance world and later, which comprises 20% of the book.
however, it is still a good analysis of an interesting subject
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- T. McGohey
- 05-25-22
Worth a 2nd reading
So much fascinating detail re both Pliny this period of Roman Empire
that I’d listen to again or read a hard copy, or possibly both together. I listened to all of it while driving and so missed some little but important details when distracted by traffic. Dunn is an excellent storyteller, and though I was a bit skeptical of Grady’s narration at first, he gradually won me over, and by latter chapters I genuinely looked forward to subtly enthusiastic but never gushing tone.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-20-24
Great narration
An interesting overview of Both Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. It is written in an accessible and entertaining way.
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-02-20
Well known yet obscure.
Most students of Rome have heard of Pliny the Elder and the Younger, but would struggle to describe their achievements. Ms Dunn does a commendable job in enlivening their lives for us. Her erudition is evident on every page, while wrapped in a fluid prose. One hopes she will go on to portray other important figures in the early empire. My nominee would be Trajan.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Joshua Miller
- 12-16-20
Enjoyable but lost track at times
The lives of both Pliny the elder and younger are intertwined in this story and at times the narrator jumps between them with references that aren’t clear who is being discussed. It also jumps around in time in a confused manner. Despite this, I still enjoyed it because I find Roman life fascinating. I also wish I had the dedication to achieving something in my life as the way both of them felt compelled to do so. There are a number of quotes that I found enlightening and surprisingly relevant to my life.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Jeff A
- 12-06-24
Smartly written.
very enjoyable, with a side of values we that are still, and have always been relevant to humanity no matter who/what you worship
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