Pliny the Younger

In Our Time: History

12/12/13

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41m

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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Pliny the Younger, famous for his letters. A prominent lawyer in Rome in the first century AD, Pliny later became governor of the province of Bithynia, on the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey. Throughout his career he was a prolific letter-writer, sharing his thoughts with great contemporaries including the historian Tacitus, and asking the advice of the Emperor Trajan. Pliny's letters offer fascinating insights into life in ancient Rome and its empire, from the mundane details of irrigation schemes to his vivid eyewitness account of the eruption of Vesuvius. With: Catharine Edwards Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London Roy Gibson Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester Alice König Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews Producer: Thomas Morris.

Previous Episode

Pocahontas

November 21, 2013

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41m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Pocahontas, the Native American woman who to English eyes became a symbol of the New World. During the colonisation of Virginia in the first years of the seventeenth century, Pocahontas famously saved the life of an English prisoner, John Smith. Later captured, she converted to Christianity, married a settler and travelled to England where she was regarded as a curiosity. She died in 1617 at the age of 22 and was buried in Gravesend; her story has fascinated generations on both sides of the Atlantic, and has been reinterpreted and retold by many writers and artists.

With:

Susan Castillo Harriet Beecher Stowe Emeritus Professor of American Studies at King's College London

Tim Lockley Reader in American Studies at the University of Warwick

Jacqueline Fear-Segal Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Next Episode

The Medici

December 26, 2013

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42m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Medici family, who dominated Florence's political and cultural life for three centuries. The House of Medici came to prominence in Italy in the fifteenth century as a result of the wealth they had built up through banking. With the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, they became Florence's most powerful and influential dynasty, effectively controlling the city's government. Their patronage of the arts turned Florence into a leading centre of the Renaissance and the Medici Bank was one of the most successful institutions of its day. As well as producing four popes, members of the House of Medici married into various European royal families.

With:

Evelyn Welch Professor of Renaissance Studies at King's College, University of London

Robert Black Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Leeds

Catherine Fletcher Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Victoria Brignell.