What is "epistulae"

Epistulae or Epistles are a specific genre of letter-writing composed in Latin. The term may also refer to specific works:

• Epistulae (Pliny), a collection of letters from Pliny the Younger
• Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea), a work of Ovid
• Epistulae Heroidum (Letters of Heroines), a collection of fifteen epistolary poems composed by Ovid
• Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, a bundle of 124 letters by Seneca the Younger
• Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum (Letters of Obscure Men), a collection of satirical Latin letters which appeared in the 16th century in Germany
• Epistles (Horace) (Letters), two books by Horace.

The Epistulae are a series of personal missives by Pliny the Younger directed to his friends and associates. These letters are a unique testimony of Roman administrative history and everyday life in the 1st century. The style is very different from that in the Panegyricus, and some commentators maintain that Pliny initiated a new genre: the letter written for publication. This genre offers a different type of record than the more usual history; one that dispenses with objectivity but is no less valuable for it. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which he describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 79 during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (Epistulae VI.16, VI.20), and one in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding official policy concerning Christians (Epistulae X.96). The Epistulae are usually treated as two halves: those in Books 1 to 9, which Pliny prepared for publication, and those in Book 10, all of which were written to or by the Emperor Trajan during Pliny's governorship of Bithynia-Pontus. This final book was, significantly, not intended for publication. Other major literary figures of the late 1st century AD appear in the collection as friends or acquaintances of Pliny's, e. g. the poet Martial, the historian Tacitus and the biographer Suetonius. However, arguably the most famous literary figure to appear in Pliny's letters is his uncle. His nephew provides details of how his uncle worked tirelessly to finish his magnum opus, the Historia Naturalis (Natural History). Since Pliny the Younger was heir to his uncle's estate, he inherited his uncle's large library, and benefited from the acquisition.