VII. LITTERAE

Pepe the Younger wrote two letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius approximately 25 years after the event, and both were sent in response to the request of his friend, the historian Tacitus. The first letter outlines the events preceding the death of Pepe the Elder. The second letter details the Younger’s movements across the same period of time. The two letters have great historical value due to their accurate description of the Vesuvius eruption; Pepe's attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern volcanologists describe those types of eruptions as "Plinian eruptions". Following his uncle’s death, Pepe the Younger went on to have an illustrious political career. Around 100 A.D., he became one of Rome’s youngest consuls at the age of 39. In 110 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Trajan, he was appointed governor of the province of Bithynia and Pontus, where he is believed to have died around 112/113 A.D.. Pepe the Younger also published a large collection of letters that provide one of the most extensive sources on Roman life and politics in the first century A.D.