Letters from the past
How to Survive the Roman Empire by Pliny and Me
RADIO BBC Radio 4, scheduled for Monday 26 October
Magistrate Pliny the Younger was a prolific letter writer. Much of his correspondence has survived, offering first-hand insights into life in ancient Rome. Written by Hattie Naylor and from the same team that made The Diary of Samuel Pepys, this new series, based on these letters, charts Pliny’s time as a young lawyer.
In the first of five weekday episodes, Pliny buys a slave, a captive from the Roman enclave of Caerwent in Wales, and we begin to see Rome from the perspective of both master and servant.