Tacitus birth and death
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Tacitus (1), Roman historian
Summary
Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian, orator, and politician. His dates are usually assumed to be 56–120 ce and he is likely to have come from Narbonese Gaul. He was politically active from the reign of Vespasian to that of Trajan or Hadrian and was consul in 97 ce and proconsular governor of Asia in 112 ce. In the reigns of Nerva and Trajan he turned to historical writing, producing three short works (a biography, an ethnography, and a dialogue on oratory) and two long histories. The biography of his father-in-law Agricola (Agricola) includes extensive discussion of the province of Britain and Agricola’s campaigns there in 77–84 ce. The ethnography (Germania) focuses on Germany and the dialogue (Dialogus) investigates how oratory has changed in the Principate. The first of the longer works (Histories) starts with the civil war of 69 ce and treats the three emperors of the Flavian dynasty, probably ending with Domitian’s assassination in 96 ce. Only the first five books of this work, covering 69–70 ce, survive. The second work (Annals
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Tacitus
Tacitus (c.55-c.120): Roman historian, author of a/o the Histories and the Annals.
Early Career
Tacitus was born in c.55, perhaps in southern Gaul. His father was a wealthy man and belonged to the second tier of the Roman elite, the knights, or - to use a more stately expression - the equestrian order. The young man was sent to Rome to study what is called rhetorics, which is not just the art of speaking in public, but in fact a grand cultural education that included everything a magistrate needed to know.
The last years of the reign of Nero must have impressed the student. There were several conspiracies to remove the eccentric, increasingly tyrannical emperor; Rome itself was still suffering from the big fire that had destroyed the city in 64; and in the end, the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors (69) broke out, culminating in the accession of Vespasian. These events may explain Tacitus' gloomy world view: he knew what it meant when government collapsed.
He owed much to the new dynasty, as he admits in the prologue of his Histories:
My
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Cornelius Tacitus - Roman Historian
Name: Cornelius Tacitus
Dates: c. A.D. 56 - c. 120
Occupation: Historian
Importance: Source on Imperial Rome, Roman Britain, and Germanic Tribes"It is the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and say what he thinks."
Histories I.1Biography
Little is known for certain about the origins of Tacitus, although he is believed to have been born, around A.D. 56, into a provincial aristocratic family in Gaul (modern France) or nearby, in the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. We don't even know if his name was "Publius" or "Gaius Cornelius" Tacitus. He had a successful political course, becoming a senator, consul, and eventually governor of the Roman province of Asia. He probably lived and wrote into Hadrian's reign (117-38) and may have died in A.D. 120.
Despite a political situation that had provided for his personal success, Tacitus was unhappy with the status quo. He lamented the previous century's reduction of aristocratic power, which was the price of having a princeps 'emperor'
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