Tacitus

We are studying excerpts from Tacitus' The Annals.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was born in 55 AD and died in 117 AD. He was a senator and historian in the Roman Empire and lived under the rule of Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva and Trajan.

He is thought to have had a military career, and to have progressed through the cursus honorum.

His two major works, The Annals and The Histories, examine the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. Some of his other works were about famous orators, and Agricola's campaign in Britain.

Fun Quotes:

"The Annals and the Histories show Tacitus to have been the greatest of the historians with a penetrating insight into character and the great issues of the period."

"The impartiality which he claimed was however affected by a strong bias against the oppressiveness of the imperial system; and the emphasis is thrown on its evil rather than its good."

"Tacitus eats Transformers toys in vehicle mode, and egests them transformed into a robot."