respiratory condition, possibly asthma, died from asphyxiation caused by the toxic gases, and was left behind. Upon the group's return three days later after the plume had dispersed, Pliny's body was found, with no apparent external injuries. Twenty-seven years later, upon a request from Tacitus, Pliny the Younger provided an account (obtained from the survivors from Stabiae) of his uncle's death. Suetonius wrote that Pliny approached the shore only from scientific interest and then asked a slave to kill him to avoid heat from the volcano. In 1859, Jacob Bigelow, after summarizing the information about Pliny's death contained in Pliny the Younger's letter to Tacitus, concluded that Pliny had died from apoplexy (stroke) or heart disease. In 1967, science historian Conway Zirkle similarly stated that "there is widespread and persisting misinformation" about Pliny's death. He suggested that despite his rescue attempt, Pliny never came within miles of Mount Vesuvius and no evidence has been found that shows he died from breathing in fumes, and like Bigelow, concluded that he died of a heart attack. In fiction Pliny is a character in the historical novel Pompeii by Robert Harris See also Plinian eruption Plinius, lunar crater Further reading Saller, Richard. 2022. Pliny's Roman Economy: Natural History, Innovation, and Growth. Princeton University Press. References Sources Beagon, Mary. (1992). Roman Nature: The Thought of Pliny the Elder. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Doody, Aude. (2010). Pliny's Encyclopedia: The Reception of the Natural History. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Fane-Saunders, Peter. (2016). Pliny the Elder and the Emergence of Renaissance Architecture. New York: Cambridge University Press. French, Roger, and Frank Greenaway, eds. (1986). Science in the Early Roman Empire: Pliny the Elder, His Sources and Influence. London: Croom Helm. Gibson, Roy and Ruth Morello eds. (2011). Pliny the Elder: Themes and Contexts. Leiden: Brill. Laehn, Thomas R. (2013). Pliny's Defense of Empire. Routledge Innovations in Political Theory. New York: Routledge. Secondary material External links Works by Pliny the Elder at Perseus Digital Library Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution images of works by Pliny the Elder in.jpg and.tiff format. Ancient Roman admirals Ancient Roman antiquarians Ancient Roman soldiers Classical geography Classical Latin literature Deaths in volcanic eruptions People from Como Ancient Roman scientists Philosophers of Roman Italy Pre-Linnaean botanists Roman encyclopedists Roman-era geographers Ancient Roman philosophers Silver Age Latin writers 1st-century Romans 20s births Year of