Pliny’s Vesuvius: off the beaten track on the Bay of Naples Roy Gibson

ven the most experienced tourists would benefit from a the effects of the eruption. Attempting to guide. Here Roy Gibson explains why one could do worse flee Misenum, they were enveloped by a E volcanic cloud, but lived to tell the tale – than travel with a copy of Pliny’s Letters. unlike their relation. What kinds of connections are there between landscape Pompeii and Herculaneum are not the Visiting the locations which are and letters? How do we benefit from only jewels on the Bay of Naples. There mentioned in Pliny’s Letters will afford us seeing them? are many sites of archaeological interest some of the best views of the bay of in the area, including Misenum, ancient Naples. And the buzz it generates is not Stabiae, and Oplontis. It was from just about sightseeing. As one classicist Ancient Stabiae Misenum that the Younger Pliny observed put it, the eruption of A.D. 79, the same eruption Many visitors to the Bay of Naples choose ‘Topos [place] and topography that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum and to stay in Sorrento, on the southern rim of [detailed description of place] killed his uncle, also called Pliny, at the bay, so the brief guide which follows persist in reacting with one Stabiae. Oplontis is a great place to see the assumes a base there. That said, it can another... The scene will offer criti- effects the nephew later writes about. easily be re-oriented for visitors staying cal reflections of the text – not truth, If you have ever seen a documentary (e.g.) in Naples itself. Detailed directions despite the hard reality of streets about the eruption of Vesuvius, or read and locations can be found in the guide- and buildings, but another inter- Robert Harris’s gripping historical novel book by Lawrence Keppie recommended pretation’. Pompeii, then you will have heard of Pliny at the end of this piece. senior and junior. Pliny the Elder was a It is not just that Pliny helps us look or A short trip on the Circumvesuviana naval commander and author whose work out what to look at. It is possible that railway will bring you to Castellammare Natural History, which he dedicated to the looking enhances our understanding of his di Stabia, the site of ancient Stabiae. The emperor Vespasian, is one of the most Letters – so bring a text with you! settlement can be identified with some famous encyclopedias of all time. His First, for orientation, a short account of precision, since the modern town sits on nephew was also keen to flatter the the eruption of Vesuvius, from Pliny’s what is effectively the ancient beach, emperor, penning an oration in praise of perspective. In the year of the eruption, while ancient Stabiae itself is located on a Trajan. But he is best known for his obses- Pliny the Elder was commander of low cliff just above the town. Stabiae was sive writing of letters, two of which Rome’s western imperial fleet at Misenum in reality a collection of luxury villas (numbers 6.16 and 6.20 in modern on the northern rim of the bay of Naples. strung out across this cliff so as to enjoy editions) describe the eruption. It might On spotting the first signs of the explosion the views across the bay. The entrance to seem strange at first that neither of these in the early afternoon of 24 August, Pliny two of them, Villa Arianna and Villa San mentions Pompeii and Herculaneum. But the Elder set about organizing a naval Marco, is off the Via Passeggiata they are a response to a request from the scientific-cum-rescue mission and Archeologica. (There are plans to trans- historian Tacitus (see Myles Lavan’s piece appears at first to have tried to land in the form the ancient villas into an later in this issue) for specific information vicinity of Oplontis (not far from Archaeological Park. But, at present, you about the death of the Elder Pliny at Pompeii). However, some form of may find yourself virtually alone here.) Stabiae, some 7 kms south of Pompeii, volcanic debris or uplift in the sea floor This adds something to the realization that and for the effects of the eruption as expe- frustrated this attempt, forcing him to sail it was in one of these villas that the Elder rienced by the Younger Pliny at Misenum, further south towards the town of Stabiae, Pliny took shelter from the incessant hail about 36 kms north. Tacitus was not where there may have been an outpost for of pumice stones pumped out by Vesuvius. unusual amongst ancient historians for the imperial fleet. It was there that Pliny Later, on the ancient beach at the foot of being more interested in the fate of his the Elder died in the early hours of the next the cliff, the Elder died. Only ten km fellow members of the elite over and morning, apparently as a result of the north, the volcano is still ominously visi- above the plight of the mass of citizens. clouds of gas caused by the eruption. ble. For all that visitors to Pompeii have relied Throughout these events, the Younger on Pliny’s Letters to give them a sense of Pliny, who was 17 at the time, had stayed Oplontis what the eruption looked and felt like, behind at Misenum (to finish his home- Pliny fails to mention either the town or its work on Livy, or so he tells us). It was A further short trip on the inhabitants. while waiting there for the return of his Circumvesuviana railway will bring you uncle – almost certainly dead already – to the Torre Annunziata (‘Oplonti Villa di that he and his mother were caught up in In Pliny’s footsteps Poppaea’) station, and – after a brief walk

13 down the hill along Via Sepolcri – to the If you then look inland, back in the is currently writing a commentary on scandalously under-visited villa at ancient direction of the bus stop, you will find Pliny, Book 6 – will be interested to hear Oplontis. The Elder Pliny appears to have yourself viewing a local beach (Spiaggia about your experience of reading Pliny’s tried to land near here before making for di Miliscola) and the lagoon of the Inner Vesuvius letters on the bay of Naples: Stabiae – but that is not the main reason to Harbour (‘Mare Morto’) from where the [email protected]. visit this site. Quite apart from the high Elder Pliny set out on his fatal rescue quality of its well-preserved ancient wall mission with a flotilla of ships. Up to paintings (the villa appears to have 10,000 sailors were stationed here in belonged originally to Nero’s wife, antiquity, although the only traces of their Poppaea), the site is surrounded on all presence are the moles in the harbour and sides by some of the best exposures of the the huge reservoir which provided them various layers of the A.D. 79 eruption. At with water. This piscina mirabilis is a Pompeii, visitors have to work hard to find central feature of Robert Harris’s similar exposures, since the volcanic Pompeii, and can be found on Via Piscina material of which they are composed was Mirabile in Bacoli. necessarily removed during excavations. As for the Younger Pliny’s experiences But at Oplontis, the layers are plainly visi- here in Misenum, scholars cannot decide ble– more than 15 of them in total, each whether he and his mother fled the testimony to a wave of devastation volcanic cloud west along the Spiaggia di emanating from Vesuvius. These include Miliscola towards Monte di Procida, or sections of pumice stones, debris left by north through Bacoli towards the high flows of volcano material along the ground above Baiae. Perhaps a renewed ground, and – smallest and deadliest of all close reading of Pliny’s letter, and a fresh – the thin dark lines which mark ‘pyro- attempt to match its co-ordinates to the clastic surges’. These are the traces left by landscape, will help you to decide. But swift and violent waves of superheated already, as the sun sets over Naples, you volcanic gas and ash. Surges of this kind should be gaining a richer, more emotive asphyxiated the inhabitants of engagement with this territory and his Herculaneum and Pompeii and the Elder writing. Pliny. Reading: Misenum Lawrence Keppie’s guidebook, The The final destination, Misenum, is a little Romans on the Bay of Naples: An harder to reach; but the views which it Archaeological Guide (The History Press, affords make the journey worth it. The last 2009, c. £16) is highly recommended. The stop of the Circumvesuviana line is the Latin text of Pliny Letters 6.16 and 6.20 is Stazione Centrale (Garibaldi) in Naples: most easily accessed in the Loeb edition from here take a SEPSA bus in the direc- of B. Radice; P. G. Walsh’s Oxford tion of Torregaveta/Monte di Procida, World’s Classics translation is also worth getting off at the Miliscola stop in Bacoli. a look. The website for Stabiae is: From here the distinctive plateau of Capo www.stabiae.com; and the website for di Miseno – rising to 100 m. above sea Oplontis is: www.oplontisproject.org. level – will be plainly visible. The cape For reading before you go: the best marks the legendary burial site of Aeneas’ account of the A.D. 79 eruption is by H. steersman, Misenus, but in Pliny’s day it Sigurdsson and S. Carey, in The Natural also sheltered at its landward base the resi- History of Pompeii (eds. W. F. Jashemski dence of the commander of the western and F. G. Meyer, Cambridge University imperial fleet. All trace of this has now Press, 2002). Good popular histories of gone, but the admiral’s house must have Vesuvius include G. Darley, Vesuvius: the been near the ancient Sacellum of the Most Famous Volcano in the World Augustales on Via Faro. It was here that (Profile Books, 2011) and A. Scarth, Pliny’s mother first caught sight of the Vesuvius: A Biography (Princeton, 2009). volcanic cloud. The Elder Pliny then For Pompeii, essential reading are M. climbed to the top of the cape to get a Beard, Pompeii: the Life of a Roman Town better view (an imperial villa topped the (Profile, 2008) and S. Hales and J. Paul, cape in ancient times). Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its To emulate Pliny’s ascent, modern visi- Rediscovery to Today (Oxford, 2011). tors are best advised to make their way Andrew Wallace-Hadrill’s Herculaneum: (with great caution: watch out for cars) Past and Future (Frances Lincoln, 2011) along the road tunnel which cuts under- makes the case for paying more attention neath the cape to emerge on the seaward to this often neglected site. side near the lighthouse. A path which For more on Pliny, see R. Gibson and leaves the car park here will take you up R. Morello, Reading the Letters of Pliny to the top of the cape, and from here you the Younger: an Introduction (Cambridge, will get a view, on a clear day, of the entire 2012). bay of Naples (and the islands of Ischia and Capri, itself interesting for its Villa Roy Gibson teaches Latin at the Jovis which belonged to the emperor University of Manchester and – since he Tiberius).

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