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70-641: Sources that mention the conflict include Tacitus 's Annals (Book 12, chapter 7), Cassius Dio 's Roman History (Book 59, chapter 12), and Peter the Patrician 's History . Coins found from the period are important in helping to date the events. The commonly provided dates for the war are 45 to 49, because the oldest coin found featuring the monogram of Cotys has the date 342 Bosporan era (AB), which corresponds to 45 Common Era (CE), and Tacitus relates that Mithridates arrived in Rome in 49 CE after having been driven from

140-515: A classical ethnographic tradition which includes authors such as Herodotus and Julius Caesar . The book begins (chapters 1–27) with a description of the lands, laws, and customs of the various tribes. Later chapters focus on descriptions of particular tribes, beginning with those who lived closest to the Roman empire, and ending with a description of those who lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea , such as

210-504: A few days later that Tacitus had spoken "with all the majesty which characterizes his usual style of oratory". A lengthy absence from politics and law followed while he wrote the Histories and the Annals . In 112 to 113, he held the highest civilian governorship, that of the Roman province of Asia in western Anatolia , recorded in the inscription found at Mylasa mentioned above. A passage in

280-592: A friend of da Strada, who is also credited with their discovery at Monte Cassino. Regardless of whether the Monte Cassino manuscripts were moved to Florence by Boccaccio or da Strada, Boccaccio made use of the Annals when he wrote Commento di Dante c. 1374 (before the birth of Poggio Bracciolini), giving an account of Seneca 's death directly based on the Tacitean account in Annals book 15 . Francis Newton states that it

350-574: A key source for modern understanding of the history of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Tiberius in AD 14 to the end of the reign of Nero , in AD 68. Tacitus wrote the Annals in at least 16 books, but books 7–10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing. The period covered by the Histories (written before the Annals ) starts at the beginning of the year AD 69, i.e. six months after

420-413: A lawyer and as an orator ; his skill in public speaking ironically counterpoints his cognomen , Tacitus ("silent"). He served in the provinces from c.  89 to c.  93 , either in command of a legion or in a civilian post. He and his property survived Domitian 's reign of terror (81–96), but the experience left him jaded and perhaps ashamed at his own complicity, instilling in him

490-586: A scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his sources. Annals (Tacitus) The Annals ( Latin : Annales ) by Roman historian and senator Tacitus is a history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Tiberius to that of Nero , the years AD 14–68. The Annals are an important source for modern understanding of the history of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD. Tacitus' final work, modern historians generally consider it his magnum opus which historian Ronald Mellor says represents

560-528: A solid basis for his work. Although Tacitus refers to part of his work as "my annals", the title of the work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself, but derives from its year-by-year structure. The name of the current manuscript seems to be "Books of History from the Death of the Divine Augustus" ( Ab Excessu divi Augusti Historiarum Libri ). The Annals was Tacitus' final work and provides

630-441: Is dedicated to Fabius Iustus, a consul in 102 AD. Tacitus's writings are known for their dense prose that seldom glosses the facts, in contrast to the style of some of his contemporaries, such as Plutarch . When he writes about a near defeat of the Roman army in Annals I,63, he does so with brevity of description rather than embellishment. In most of his writings, he keeps to a chronological narrative order, only seldom outlining

700-519: Is likely that Annals 11–16 were in Monte Cassino during the first half of the rule of Abbot Desiderius (1058–1087) who later became Pope Victor III . Annals 1–6 were then independently discovered at Corvey Abbey in Germany in 1508 by Giovanni Angelo Arcimboldi , afterwards Archbishop of Milan, and were first published in Rome in 1515 by Beroaldus , by order of Pope Leo X , who afterwards deposited

770-548: Is possible that this refers to a brother—if Cornelius was indeed his father. The friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both the offspring of wealthy provincial families. The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica , Gallia Narbonensis , or Northern Italy . His marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus's dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus in

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840-571: Is the later historian whose work most closely approaches him in style. Tacitus makes use of the official sources of the Roman state: the Acta Senatus (the minutes of the sessions of the Senate) and the Acta Diurna (a collection of the acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He also read collections of emperors' speeches, such as those of Tiberius and Claudius. He is generally seen as

910-450: Is uncertainty about when Tacitus wrote Dialogus de oratoribus . Many characteristics set it apart from the other works of Tacitus, so that its authenticity has at various times been questioned. It is likely to be early work, indebted to the author's rhetorical training, since its style imitates that of the foremost Roman orator Cicero . It lacks (for example) the incongruities that are typical of his mature historical works. The Dialogus

980-463: Is well known: inde consilium mihi ... tradere ... sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo. my purpose is ... to relate ... without either anger or zeal, motives from which I am far removed. There has been much scholarly discussion about Tacitus's "neutrality". Throughout his writing, he is preoccupied with the balance of power between the Senate and the emperors , and the increasing corruption of

1050-447: The Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, and his friendship with Pliny suggests origins in northern Italy. No evidence exists, however, that Pliny's friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Pliny's letters hint that the two men had a common background. Pliny Book 9, Letter 23, reports that when asked whether he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer and so

1120-689: The Histories (Latin: Historiae )—examine the reigns of the emperors Tiberius , Claudius , Nero , and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus (14 AD) to the death of Domitian (96 AD), although there are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts. Tacitus's other writings discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de oratoribus ), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum ), and

1190-513: The Agricola , Tacitus asserts that he wishes to speak about the years of Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In the Histories the scope has changed; Tacitus says that he will deal with the age of Nerva and Trajan at a later time. Instead, he will cover the period from the civil wars of the Year of the Four Emperors and end with the despotism of the Flavians . Only the first four books and twenty-six chapters of

1260-464: The Annals fixes 116 as the terminus post quem of his death, which may have been as late as 125 or even 130. It seems that he survived both Pliny (died c.  113 ) and Trajan (died 117). It remains unknown whether Tacitus had any children. The Augustan History reports that Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus (r. 275–276) claimed him for an ancestor and provided for the preservation of his works, but this story may be fraudulent, like much of

1330-477: The Augustan History . Five works ascribed to Tacitus have survived (albeit with gaps), the most substantial of which are the Annals and the Histories . This canon (with approximate dates) consists of: The Annals and the Histories , published separately, were meant to form a single edition of thirty books. Although Tacitus wrote the Histories before the Annals , the events in the Annals precede

1400-459: The Ciceronian period , where sentences were usually the length of a paragraph and artfully constructed with nested pairs of carefully matched sonorous phrases, this is short and to the point. But it is also very individual. Note the three different ways of saying and in the first line ( -que , et , ac ), and especially the matched second and third lines. They are parallel in sense but not in sound;

1470-511: The Fenni . Tacitus had written a similar, albeit shorter, piece in his Agricola (chapters 10–13). The Agricola (written c.  98 ) recounts the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Tacitus's father-in-law; it also covers, briefly, the geography and ethnography of ancient Britain . As in the Germania , Tacitus favorably contrasts the liberty of the native Britons with

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1540-509: The Histories . The second half of book 16 is missing, ending with the events of 66. It is not known whether Tacitus completed the work; he died before he could complete his planned histories of Nerva and Trajan, and no record survives of the work on Augustus and the beginnings of the Roman Empire , with which he had planned to finish his work. The Annals is one of the earliest secular historical records to mention Jesus of Nazareth , which Tacitus does in connection with Nero's persecution of

1610-487: The Histories ; together they form a continuous narrative from the death of Augustus (14) to the death of Domitian (96). Though most has been lost, what remains is an invaluable record of the era. The first half of the Annals survived in a single manuscript from Corvey Abbey in Germany, and the second half in a single manuscript from Monte Cassino in Italy; it is remarkable that they survived at all. In an early chapter of

1680-526: The Principate . He says again that Augustus gave and warranted peace to the state after years of civil war, but on the other hand he shows us the dark side of life under the Caesars . The history of the beginning of the principate is also the history of the end of the political freedom that the senatorial aristocracy, which Tacitus viewed as morally decadent, corrupt, and servile towards the emperor, had enjoyed during

1750-594: The persecution of Christians and one of the earliest extra-Biblical references to the crucifixion of Jesus . Details about the personal life of Tacitus are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger , and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria . Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family. The place and date of his birth, as well as his praenomen (first name) are not known. In

1820-453: The "pinnacle of Roman historical writing". Tacitus' Histories and Annals together amounted to 30 books, although some scholars disagree about which work to assign some books to, traditionally 14 are assigned to Histories and 16 to Annals . Of the 30 books referred to by Jerome about half have survived. Modern scholars believe that as a Roman senator , Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus —the Roman senate's records—which provided

1890-431: The 18th century, at least five attempts have been made to challenge the authenticity of the Annals as having been written by someone other than Tacitus, Voltaire 's criticism being perhaps the first. Voltaire was generally critical of Tacitus and said that Tacitus did not comply with the standards for providing a historical background to civilization. In 1878, John Wilson Ross and, in 1890, Polydore Hochart suggested that

1960-613: The Bosporan Kingdom. At the same time, Claudius withdrew the Roman garrison under Aulus Didius Gallus leaving only a few cohorts under Gaius Julius Aquila . In response, Mithridates III allied himself with the neighbouring tribes, most notably with the Siraces under Zorsines and he was able to raise an army and push out the king of the Dandaridae and establish himself in that king's dominions. He then declared war against his brother and

2030-485: The Bosporus. Mithridates III and Cotys I were sons of Aspurgus and Gepaepyris who were rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom. After the death of his father in 38, Mithridates III became joint-ruler with his mother Gepaepyris, and sometime between 38 and 45, Roman Emperor Claudius made him ruler of all of the Bosporan Kingdom. In 45, for reasons unknown, Claudius deposed Mithridates and made his younger brother, Cotys I, ruler of

2100-545: The Christians . Tacitus wrote three works with a more limited scope: Agricola , a biography of his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola; the Germania , a monograph on the lands and tribes of barbarian Germania; and the Dialogus , a dialogue on the art of rhetoric. The Germania ( Latin title: De Origine et situ Germanorum ) is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. The Germania fits within

2170-556: The Roman cohorts under Aquila. When Cotys heard of this, he turned to Gaius Julius Aquila and his Roman cohorts to help him fight off his elder brother. Cotys and Aquila feared that Mithridates's army was larger, and enlisted the help of Eunones , who was at the time ruler of the Aorsi . Eunones quickly sided with the Pro-Roman faction, as Aquila pointed out the strength of Rome to that of Mithridates. The Romans began to lay siege to towns under

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2240-451: The Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory and had been subjugated by Rome. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics; like Pliny, he may have studied under Quintilian ( c.  35 AD – c.  100 ). In 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola . Little is known of their domestic life, save that Tacitus loved hunting and

2310-504: The atrocities which he ordered; with Domitian it was the chief part of our miseries to see and to be seen, to know that our sighs were being recorded... From his seat in the Senate , he became suffect consul in 97 during the reign of Nerva , being the first of his family to do so. During his tenure, he reached the height of his fame as an orator when he delivered the funeral oration for the famous veteran soldier Lucius Verginius Rufus . In

2380-403: The best portrait is that of Tiberius, portrayed in an indirect way, painted progressively during the course of a narrative, with observations and commentary along the way filling in details. Tacitus portrays both Tiberius and Nero as tyrants who caused fear in their subjects. But while he views Tiberius as someone who had once been a great man, Tacitus considers Nero as simply despicable. Since

2450-604: The bigger picture, leaving the readers to construct that picture for themselves. Nonetheless, where he does use broad strokes, for example, in the opening paragraphs of the Annals , he uses a few condensed phrases which take the reader to the heart of the story. Tacitus's historical style owes some debt to Sallust . His historiography offers penetrating—often pessimistic—insights into the psychology of power politics, blending straightforward descriptions of events, moral lessons, and tightly focused dramatic accounts. Tacitus's own declaration regarding his approach to history ( Annals I,1)

2520-422: The books to each work, traditionally fourteen are assigned to Histories and sixteen to the Annals . Tacitus' friend Pliny referred to "your histories" when writing to him about his earlier work. Although Tacitus refers to part of his work as "my annals", the title of the work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself, but derives from its year-by-year structure. Of the sixteen books in Annals ,

2590-400: The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a spurious interjection, added later, and not written by Tacitus. In Jorge Luis Borges ' short story The Garden of Forking Paths , when Yu Tsun, the main character, takes the train to carry out his final mission in the fictitious town of Ashgrove, among the few persons he encounters on the train is a young man fervently reading Tacitus’ Annals . Tacitus

2660-578: The death of Nero and continues to the death of Domitian in 96. It is not known when Tacitus began writing the Annals, but he was well into writing it by AD 116. Modern scholars believe that as a senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus , the Roman senate's records, thus providing a solid basis for his work. Together the Histories and the Annals amounted to 30 books. These thirty books are referred to by Saint Jerome , and about half of them have survived. Although some scholars differ on how to assign

2730-594: The dominion of Mithridates such as Artezian, a fortress in Crimea while the Aorsi under Eunones laid siege to the fortified settlement of Uspe under Zorsines. After crossing the river Panda, Eunones lay siege to Uspe, which was a weakly-protected fortified city of the Siraces. The settlement had weak defences and was not able to withstand an attack. The Aorsi constructed towers to "annoy" the people of Uspe with darts and arrows. Throughout

2800-399: The empire. Nonetheless, the image he builds of Tiberius throughout the first six books of the Annals is neither exclusively bleak nor approving: most scholars view the image of Tiberius as predominantly positive in the first books, and predominantly negative after the intrigues of Sejanus . The entrance of Tiberius in the first chapters of the first book is dominated by the hypocrisy of

2870-491: The fifth book survive, covering the year 69 and the first part of 70. The work is believed to have continued up to the death of Domitian on September 18, 96. The fifth book contains—as a prelude to the account of Titus's suppression of the First Jewish–Roman War —a short ethnographic survey of the ancient Jews , and it is an invaluable record of Roman attitudes towards them. The Annals , Tacitus's final work, covers

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2940-440: The following year, he wrote and published the Agricola and Germania , foreshadowing the literary endeavors that would occupy him until his death. Afterward, he absented himself from public life, but returned during Trajan 's reign (98–117). In 100, he and his friend Pliny the Younger prosecuted Marius Priscus  [ la ] ( proconsul of Africa) for corruption. Priscus was found guilty and sent into exile; Pliny wrote

3010-478: The former ruler and was pleased that Mithridates had chosen the Aorsi to help him sue for mercy with Rome. After sending envoys to Claudius, Mithridates pleaded mercy in front of the Roman Emperor himself. Claudius deemed Mithridates's actions deserving of extreme penalties. However, Mithridates said that "I have not been sent, but have come back to you; if you do not believe me, let me go and pursue me" Claudius

3080-432: The frivolous prosecutions which resulted ( Annals , 1.72). Elsewhere ( Annals 4.64–66) he compares Tiberius's public distribution of fire relief to his failure to stop the perversions and abuses of justice which he had begun. Although this kind of insight has earned him praise, he has also been criticized for ignoring the larger context. Tacitus owes most, both in language and in method, to Sallust, and Ammianus Marcellinus

3150-480: The governing classes of Rome as they adjusted to the ever-growing wealth and power of the empire. In Tacitus's view, senators squandered their cultural inheritance—that of free speech —to placate their (rarely benign) emperor. Tacitus noted the increasing dependence of the emperor on the goodwill of his armies. The Julio-Claudians eventually gave way to generals, who followed Julius Caesar (and Sulla and Pompey ) in recognizing that military might could secure them

3220-642: The hatred of tyranny evident in his works. The Agricola , chs. 44 – 45 , is illustrative: Agricola was spared those later years during which Domitian, leaving now no interval or breathing space of time, but, as it were, with one continuous blow, drained the life-blood of the Commonwealth... It was not long before our hands dragged Helvidius to prison, before we gazed on the dying looks of Mauricus and Rusticus , before we were steeped in Senecio 's innocent blood. Even Nero turned his eyes away, and did not gaze upon

3290-523: The historian's mother was a daughter of Aulus Caecina Paetus , suffect consul of 37, and sister of Arria, wife of Thrasea. His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who served as procurator of Belgica and Germania ; Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly ( NH 7.76 ), which implies an early death. There is no mention of Tacitus's suffering such a condition, but it

3360-506: The imperial system (see Tacitean studies , Black vs. Red Tacitists). His Latin style is highly praised. His style, although it has a grandeur and eloquence (thanks to Tacitus's education in rhetoric), is extremely concise, even epigrammatic —the sentences are rarely flowing or beautiful, but their point is always clear. The style has been both derided as "harsh, unpleasant, and thorny" and praised as "grave, concise, and pithily eloquent". A passage of Annals 1.1 , where Tacitus laments

3430-553: The letters of Sidonius Apollinaris his name is Gaius , but in the major surviving manuscript of his work his name is given as Publius . One scholar's suggestion of the name Sextus has been largely rejected. Most of the older aristocratic families failed to survive the proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic , and Tacitus makes it clear that he owed his rank to the Flavian emperors ( Hist. 1.1 ). The claim that he

3500-519: The life of his father-in-law, Agricola (the general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain ), mainly focusing on his campaign in Britannia ( De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae ). Tacitus's Histories offers insights into Roman attitudes towards Jews , descriptions of Jewish customs, and context for the First Jewish–Roman War . His Annals are of interest for providing an early account of

3570-591: The manuscript in the Medicean Library in Florence. In Donna Leon 's third Commissario Brunetti novel Dressed for Death (1994), the protagonist reads Tacitus' Annals in his spare time in the evenings, and various references to that material are made throughout the novel. In Mikhail Bulgakov 's The Master and Margarita Tacitus’ Annals is referenced, as the MASSOLIT editor Berlioz asserts that its mention of

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3640-460: The manuscripts containing the Annals goes back to the Renaissance . While Bracciolini had discovered three minor works at Hersfeld Abbey in Germany in 1425, Zanobi da Strada (who died in 1361) had probably earlier discovered Annals 11–16 at Monte Cassino where he lived for some time. The copies of Annals at Monte Cassino were probably moved to Florence by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375),

3710-434: The motives of the characters, often with penetrating insight—though it is questionable how much of his insight is correct, and how much is convincing only because of his rhetorical skill. He is at his best when exposing hypocrisy and dissimulation; for example, he follows a narrative recounting Tiberius's refusal of the title pater patriae by recalling the institution of a law forbidding any "treasonous" speech or writings—and

3780-493: The new emperor and his courtiers. In the later books, some respect is evident for the cleverness of the old emperor in securing his position. In general, Tacitus does not fear to praise and to criticize the same person, often noting what he takes to be their more admirable and less admirable properties. One of Tacitus's hallmarks is refraining from conclusively taking sides for or against persons he describes, which has led some to interpret his works as both supporting and rejecting

3850-490: The only one of his enemies that was not in the conflict for personal benefit. Mithridates went to Eunones's palace and threw himself at the ruler's feet and said "Mithridates, whom the Romans have sought so many years by land and sea, stands before you by his own choice. Deal as you please with the descendant of the great Achaemenes, the only glory of which enemies have not robbed me." This act of greatly affected Eunones, and he raised

3920-522: The outdoors. He started his career (probably the latus clavus , mark of the senator) under Vespasian (r. 69–79), but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus . He advanced steadily through the cursus honorum , becoming praetor in 88 and a quindecimvir , a member of the priestly college in charge of the Sibylline Books and the Secular Games . He gained acclaim as

3990-511: The pairs of words ending " -entibus … -is " are crossed over in a way that deliberately breaks the Ciceronian conventions—which one would, however, need to be acquainted with to see the novelty of Tacitus's style. Some readers, then and now, find this teasing of their expectations merely irritating. Others find the deliberate discord, playing against the evident parallelism of the two lines, stimulating and intriguing. His historical works focus on

4060-506: The period from the death of Augustus in AD ;14. He wrote at least sixteen books, but books 7–10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11, and 16 are missing. Book 6 ends with the death of Tiberius , and books 7–12 presumably covered the reigns of Caligula and Claudius . The remaining books cover the reign of Nero, perhaps until his death in June 68 or until the end of that year to connect with

4130-468: The political power in Rome. ( Hist. 1.4 ) Welcome as the death of Nero had been in the first burst of joy, yet it had not only roused various emotions in Rome, among the Senators, the people, or the soldiery of the capital, it had also excited all the legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that emperors could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Tacitus's political career

4200-415: The reign of Nero and Book 16 cuts off in the middle of the year AD 66. This leaves the material that would have covered the final two years of Nero's reign lost. Tacitus documented a Roman imperial system of government. Tacitus chose to start his work with the death of Augustus Caesar in AD 14, and his succession by Tiberius . As in the Histories , Tacitus maintains his thesis of the necessity of

4270-452: The reign of Tiberius takes up six books, of which only Book 5 is missing. These books are neatly divided into two sets of three, corresponding to the change in the nature of the political climate during the period. The next six books are devoted to the reigns of Caligula and Claudius . Books 7 through 10 are missing. Books 11 and 12 cover the period from the treachery of Messalina to the end of Claudius' reign. The final four books cover

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4340-458: The republic. During Nero's reign there had been a widespread diffusion of literary works in favor of this suicidal exitus illustrium virorum ("end of the illustrious men"). Again, as in his Agricola , Tacitus is opposed to those who chose useless martyrdom through vain suicides. In the Annals , Tacitus further improved the style of portraiture that he had used so well in the Historiae . Perhaps

4410-475: The siege, the town offered them 10,000 slaves, an offer which the Romans travelling with the Aorsi declined, as they were too rebellious to keep in check. Within a day Zorsines made peace with his enemies to end the siege of Uspe. Meanwhile, Aquila and his cohorts were attacking the towns of Mithridates. Upon hearing that Zorsines had made peace with his enemies, Mithridates realised that he was losing and considered to whom he should seek mercy. He turned to Eunones,

4480-740: The state of the historiography regarding the last four emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty , illustrates his style: "The histories of Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero, while they were in power, were falsified through terror and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred", or in a word-for-word translation: Tiberiī Gāīque et Claudiī ac Nerōnis rēs flōrentibus ipsīs—ob metum—falsae, postquam occiderant—recentibus ōdiīs—compositae sunt. Tiberius's, Gaius's and Claudius's as well as Nero's acts while flourishing themselves—out of fear—counterfeited, after they came to fall—resulting from new-found hate—related are. Compared to

4550-507: The tyranny and corruption of the Empire; the book also contains eloquent polemics against the greed of Rome, one of which, that Tacitus claims is from a speech by Calgacus , ends by asserting, Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. ("To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."—Oxford Revised Translation). There

4620-477: The whole of the Annals had been forged by the Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459). According to Robert Van Voorst this was an "extreme hypothesis" which never gained a following among modern scholars. Voorst, however, does not address any of Ross' objections regarding numerous purported historical inaccuracies in the Annals, but only faults Hochart on a few points in a footnote. The provenance of

4690-448: Was asked whether he was Tacitus or Pliny. Since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis. His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his sympathetic depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule (e.g., Ann. 2.9 ) have led some to suggest that he was a Celt . This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to

4760-582: Was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen ( Ann. 13.27 ), but this is generally disputed. In his article on Tacitus in Pauly-Wissowa , I. Borzsak had conjectured that the historian was related to Thrasea Paetus and Etruscan family of Caecinii , about whom he spoke very highly. Furthermore, some later Caecinii bore cognomen Tacitus, which also could indicate some sort of relationship. It had been suggested that

4830-490: Was impressed by the good-will of Mithridates, and let him live. Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus , known simply as Tacitus ( / ˈ t æ s ɪ t ə s / TAS -it-əs , Latin: [ˈtakɪtʊs] ; c.  AD 56 – c.  120 ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals (Latin: Annales ) and

4900-412: Was largely lived out under the emperor Domitian. His experience of the tyranny, corruption, and decadence of that era (81–96) may explain the bitterness and irony of his political analysis. He draws our attention to the dangers of power without accountability, love of power untempered by principle, and the apathy and corruption engendered by the concentration of wealth generated through trade and conquest by

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