Pliny, Epistulae [Letters]

Charilaos N. Michalopoulos (University of Democritus)

Ed. by William John Dominik, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication 99 - 112

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Letter(s)

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Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, or Pliny, owes his literary fame to his

Letters

(

Epistulae

), which comprise nine books of private letters (books 1-9) and one book of his official correspondence with the emperor Trajan (book 10). Pliny’s epistolary work offers a most valuable insight to the author’s intellectual environment and the culture of literary and political friendship within the Roman aristocracy during Trajan’s dominion. Books 1-9 contain the author’s own collection of 247 private letters addressed to a remarkable number of 105 real, not fictive recipients (Pliny’s friends and other members of the Roman aristocracy of his time). The exact dating of the letters remains unresolved, since only a very small number of trustworthy chronological markers are found in the…

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2542 words

Citation: Michalopoulos, Charilaos N.. "Epistulae". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26476, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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Pliny, Epistulae [Letters]

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