Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundis) the Elder
(23­79 A.D.)
Roman historian, scholar, and writer

Pliny the Elder wrote many historical and scientific works, including a comprehensive thirty-seven-volume encyclopedia of the natural sciences. Plagued by chronic asthma, he suffocated from exposure to the sulfurous fumes of erupting Mt. Vesuvius.

Courtesy Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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