Vesuvius is on many people’s minds right now – not only Latin teachers, preparing for the new AP exam,
but everyone interested in geology. The following are just to whet your appetite; there is a huge
number of videos out there.

In one of my adult classes, we just finished reading both of Pliny’s letters about Vesuvius, and one
person (who happens to be my cousin!) found this video from Australia. It’s very interesting, not
horrible to watch, and does a good job of showing how the volcano erupted and spread. It’s an
illustration.

This discussion of Vesuvius, from the Smithsonian, is a more dramatic view, but quite interesting. A
volcanologist describes the different layers and how there were 3 distinct stages of the volcano.

The following is a review of a book about Vesuvius: The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, by Daisy Dunn (2019).

Since not much is known about the life of Pliny the Elder, the author has concentrated on Pliny
the Younger. We, as classicists, know much of what Dunn has to say; most of the hard data comes
directly from the Plinys, so there is not much new in substance or speculation. Because the evidence in
many places is scant, Dunn adds information that isn’t really germane; e.g., earlier and later eruptions of
Vesuvius, later English historians and characters. Her style is very nice and breezy, so it is fairly easy to
read; borrowing it from the library is your best bet.

By Ruth Breindel, who taught Latin, Greek, Linguistics and Mythology at Moses Brown School for 30 years.