Pliny the Younger Trivia Quiz

Answer: Como, Italy

Pliny was born in 63 AD, in Como, which is in the northern part of Italy.

Answer: Uncle

Pliny the Elder adopted Pliny the Younger when he was eight. Pliny the Younger's father died, so he took him in. Pliny the Elder was constantly collecting facts about the universe. The elder Pliny collected a vast amount of information and put it into a thirty-seven volume encyclopedia of natural history. His great work ethic must have rubbed off on Pliny the Younger.

Answer: Rome

One of his teachers was Quintillian, one of the most influential authors in his time. Quintillian taught Pliny Latin rhetoric. Pliny's other teacher was the famous orator Nicetes of Smyrna, who taught Pliny Greek.

Answer: The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

When Pliny was seventeen, his uncle, Pliny the Elder, died while rescuing people from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Later, Pliny wrote about the event in a letter to Cornelius Tacitus, a famous Roman historian. He described the eruption, the earthquakes, his perilous escape from Pompeii, and explained how his uncle, who was tired from his rescue efforts, lay on the ground to take a rest, at which point he died.

Answer: Legionary commander of a roman army

When he was 19 years old, Pliny started his legal career. He held a series of civil, imperial, and military offices called the cursus honorum. Pliny developed a reputation for being an honest and dedicated man. In 90 AD, Pliny was appointed to administrate finance and maintain public records, a job which is known as quaestor. Pliny was a good accountant, which was rare in the Roman world. Emperor Domitian was so impressed with Pliny the Younger that he permitted him to become a praetor, which is a civil judge who could introduce laws, earlier than the recommended age. Pliny was also an advisor on the emperor's judicial and administrative tribunal many times. We know of all the offices Pliny had held, because before Pliny died, he founded a bathhouse in Como.

Inside he had his whole career inscribed on a wall. Between the years of 94 and 100 AD, Pliny was the leader of the military and the state treasury. When Pliny was 38, he reached the highest office in the Roman Empire, the Consul.

This was a remarkable achievement for someone who was not a son of a senator.

Answer: Tacitus

Tacitus, a noted historian, was a friend of Pliny the Younger. There was one instance where Tacitus was mistaken at a horse race for "that famous author Pliny".

Answer: Greek

Pliny was fluent in Greek and expected his readers to be well educated. Greek was the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean.

Answer: Trajan

Pliny wrote 37 letters to Emperor Trajan. Pliny asks for advice from his emperor in these letters on how to rule the province of Bithynia-Pontus.

Answer: Christians

Pliny also wrote to Emperor Trajan asking his advice about how to treat Christians. Pliny explained that Christians were brought to him every day facing the charges of refusing military service, refusing to do obeisance to the emperor's statue (which was basically the equivalent of saluting the American flag), and having a strange new religion. Christians were labeled as "haters of man-kind" since they didn't burn incense in front of any statues of gods.

Some of the misconceptions Romans had were that Christians married their brothers and sisters.

They also believed that Christians were cannibals. Pliny found out, however, after a thorough investigation, that Christians did not really do these things.

Answer: Chinese influences on the Romans

Pliny died around 113 AD. Pliny's writings are regarded by historians as very important because they accurately describe the everyday life of upper-class citizens of Rome in his day.