Author Description

Publius (Gaius/Caius) Cornelius Tacitus (c56-c117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works - the Annals and the Histories - examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in 14 AD to the death of emperor Domitian in 96 AD. There are significant lacunae in the surviving texts. Other works by Tacitus discuss oratory (Dialogus de Oratoribus), Germania (De Origine et Situ Germanorum), and biographical notes about his father-in-law Agricola, primarily during his campaign in Britannia (De Vita et Moribus Lulii Agricolae). Tacitus' historiographical style in his major works is annalistic. An author writing in the latter part of the Silver Age of Latin literature, his work is distinguished by a boldness and sharpness of wit, and a compact and sometimes unconventional use of Latin.