Customer Reviews

Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny The Younger on the Eruption of Vesuvius

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Much of what we know about the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius - the eruption that sealed Pompeii and Herculaneum in time and volcanic ash - comes from the letters written by Pliny the Younger to his friend Tacitus. Pliny was an eyewitness, and his uncle died in the eruption.<
These texts have been available for a long time. What is new and impressive about this book are its illustrations, relief engravings by artist Berry Moser, Professor in Residence in the Art Department of Smith College in Massachusetts.<
The letters are freshly translated by Benedicte Gilman, who has also provided biographies of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, as well as an essay describing how it was that the letters themselves came to be preserved into modern times. This is solid, readable, exciting work in and of itself.<
But the real force in this book is the illustrations. Using a technique generally confined to wood engraving, Moser has given us a series of 16 vital illustrations that bring a terrible life to the horrible events of the eruption. As slim as it is, this volume is a literal "must have" for all lovers of art and history.

I bought this book because the illustrations were done by Barry Moser. As always, his art does not disappoint. The brief text by Pliny is equally worthy of admiration.

Here's an interpretation of the two letters of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus, about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. Black-and-white wood engravings by artist Barry Moser illustrate the grotesque images described in Pliny's letters. Moser's engravings have illustrated more than a hundred books, including Moby Dick and Alice in Wonderland.

Ashen Sky is a good title. Ash from Mount Vesuvius' eruption in Italy spread to Egypt, Syria, and Africa, spreading pestilence. Two cities at its base, Pompeii and Herculaneum, were completely buried in ash and lost to history ... finally uncovered 1,800 years later by a chance archaeological discovery.

Readers of my book about Revelation will immediately recognize the connection of Mount Vesuvius to my religious book blog. Its eruption eerily mimics the description of fire and brimstone torment in the book of Revelation, and many Bible scholars surmise that the image must have burned itself permanently into the mind of Revelation's author. Read especially chapter eight, about the seven trumpets.

It's hard to overestimate the cosmic importance of this event; an eruption of this magnitude happens somewhere on earth about once every 1,000 years. If parts of Revelation begin to sound like the ravings of a madman with a fist full of prophetic scriptures to explain, we can surely pardon its author. So if you're curious about Revelation's inspiration and wish to read the letters of Pliny the Younger, you may as well choose a fun picture book to read.

The text of Ashen Sky contains fascinating background information, including short biographical information about Tacitus, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. The letters of Pliny the Younger send the reader back to share the frightening experience of the eruption of Vesuvius with an eye witness in AD 79. But the value of the book is overwhelmingly the magnificent relief engravings of Barry Moser. The frightening scenes of not only the eruption but the effect on the people is presented with power in Mr. Moser's superb prints. He has the ability to set a mood and bring light from darkness in the most dramatic way and he does it so well here.

It will be easy to find a more comprehensive edition of Pliny's letters but hardly a more beautiful and touching one than this production of the Getty Museum that combines the two rather short letters on the eruption of Vesuvius with thoughtful introductions on the event and the persons involved (Pliny the Older and Pliny the Younger, Tacitus) and - most important - Barry Moser's woodcuts that catch the horror of the eruption expressively.

This book was all that it was advertized to be. It is a translation of two letters that Pliny the younger wrote to Taticus describing the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. The real interest of this book is not the translation so much as the "woodcut" illustrations by Barry Moser. This was an ideal medium to portray the dark and foreboding conditions that ensued during and after the eruption.

There is enough introductory material included in the book to assist if the reader is not familiar with the history of this epic catastrophe. I enjoyed the text as well as the dramatic woodcut illustrations.