GermaniaII

Germania II

Ancient Germanic History

Part One
   (Continued from Germania I)

Migration Period
[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

This is an article on European migrations in the early part of the first millennium AD.

2nd to 5th century simplified migrations. See also map of the world in AD 820.The
Migration Period, also called Barbarian Invasions or Völkerwanderung (German for
"wandering of peoples"), is a name given by historians to a human migration which
occurred within the period of roughly AD 300–700 in Europe,[1] marking the
transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages.

The migration included the Goths, Vandals, and Franks, among other Germanic,
Bulgar and Slavic tribes. The migration may have been triggered by the incursions
of the Huns, in turn connected to the Turkic migration in Central Asia, population
pressures, or climate changes.

Migrations would continue well beyond AD 1000, successive waves of Slavs, Alans,
Avars, Bulgars, Hungarians, Pechenegs, Cumans, and Tatars radically changing the
ethnic makeup of Eastern Europe. Western European historians, however, tend to
emphasize the migrations most relevant to Western Europe.

Modern account:

The migration movement may be divided into two phases; the first phase, between
AD 300 and 500, largely seen from the Mediterranean perspective of Greek and
Latin historians,[2] with the aid of some archaeology, put Germanic peoples in
control of most areas of the former Western Roman Empire. (See also: Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Burgundians, Alans, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi, Alamanni,
Vandals). The first to formally enter Roman territory — as refugees from the Huns —
were the Visigoths in 376. Tolerated by the Romans on condition that they defend
the Danube frontier, they rebelled, eventually invading Italy and sacking Rome
itself (410) before settling in Iberia and founding a 300-year-long kingdom there.
They were followed into Roman territory by the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the
Great, settling in Italy itself.

In Gaul, the Franks, a fusion of western Germanic tribes whose leaders had been
strongly aligned with Rome, entered Roman lands more gradually and peacefully
during the 5th century, and were generally accepted as rulers by the Roman-
Gaulish population. Fending off challenges from the Allemanni, Burgundians and
Visigoths, the Frankish kingdom became the nucleus of the future states of France
and Germany. Meanwhile Roman Britain was more slowly conquered by Angles and
Saxons.

The second phase, between AD 500 and 700, saw Slavic tribes settling in Central
and Eastern Europe, particularly in eastern Magna Germania, and gradually making
it predominantly Slavic. The Bulgars, who had been present in far eastern Europe
since the second century, in the seventh century conquered the eastern Balkan
territory of the Byzantine Empire. The Lombards, a Germanic people, settled
northern italy, the region now known as Lombardy.

The Arabs tried to invade Europe via Asia Minor in the second half of the seventh
century and the early eighth century, but were eventually defeated at the siege of
Constantinople by the joint forces of Byzantium and Bulgaria in 717-18. At the same
time, they invaded Europe via Gibraltar, conquering Hispania (the Iberian
Peninsula) from the Visigoths in 711 before finally being halted by the Franks at the
Battle of Tours in 732. These battles largely fixed the frontier between Christendom
and Islam for the next three centuries.

During the eighth to tenth centuries, not usually counted as part of the Migrations
Period but still within the Early Middle Ages, new waves of migration, first of the
Magyars and later of the Turkic peoples, as well as Viking expansion from
Scandinavia, threatened the newly established order of the Frankish Empire in
Central Europe.

Romantic vision: Wandering vs Invasion:

The German term Völkerwanderung [ˈfœlkɐˌvandəʁʊŋ] ("migration of nations"), is
still used as an alternative label for the Migration Period in English-language
historiography.[3].

However, the term Völkerwanderung is also strongly associated with a certain
romantic historical style which has strong roots in the German-speaking world of
the 19th century, perhaps associated with the same cultural process which
included the music of Wagner and the writings of Nietzsche and Goethe.

The Völkerwanderung, the forceful expansion of the Germanic tribes into France,
England, Northern Italy and Iberia, is seen an indication of cultural energy and
dynamism. This analysis became associated with nineteenth century German
Romantic nationalism.

Even the term "barbarian invasion" is still in use in some English works;[4] It has its
roots in the Latin point of view about the migration period: if Germans and Slavic
peoples use the term "migration" (Völkerwanderung in German, Stěhování národů
in Czech, etc.), in cultures that are heirs to Latin language (French, Italians,
Spanish, etc.), these migrations are called "barbarian invasions" (e.g. the Italian
term "Invasioni Barbariche"). Barbarian historically has the neutral meaning of
"foreigner"[5] but it also has a pejorative meaning of "uncivilized" and "cruel",
making it problematic as a neutral historical descriptor.

Even the old romantic vision of the Migration age differs between differing
cultures: on one side the 'Völkerwanderung': the myth of young and vigorous
people who succeeded the old and decadent Roman society; on the other side
there is the stereotype of uncivilized and savage 'barbarians', who destroyed the
highly developed Roman Civilization, starting a Dark Age of disorder and violence.

Today, the notion of the "invasions" of pre-Romantic-generation historians has also
fallen out of favour: many scholars today hold that a great deal of the migration did
not represent hostile invasion so much as tribes taking the opportunity to enter
and settle lands already thinly populated and weakly held by a divided Roman state
whose economy was shrinking at a time when the climate was cooling.

While there were certainly battles, and sieges of cities, and death of innocent
civilians fought between the tribes and the Roman peoples, the migration period
did not see the kind of wholesale destruction carried out in later centuries by the
Mongols or by industrial-era armies.

Migration period:

In reaction to the above, twentieth-century English-language historiography largely
abandoned the German and Latin terms, replacing them with the more neutral
"Migration Period", as in the series Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology or Gyula
László's The Art of the Migration Period.

Notes:

^ Precise dates given may vary; often cited is 410, the sack of Rome by Alaric I and
751, the accession of Pippin the Short and the establishment of the Carolingian
Dynasty.
^ Even Jordanes, an Alan or Goth by birth, wrote in Latin.
^ "Jene Epoche, in der sich der Übergang von der Spätantike zum Frühmittelalter
vollzog, wird in der deutschen Wissenschaftssprache traditionell als
'Völkerwanderungszeit' bezeichnet."; "This epoch, in which the transition from Late
Antiquity to the early Middle Ages took place, is traditionally called
"Völkerwanderungszeit", or "migration time", in the German scientific language".
Manuel Koch, "Das Reich der Vandalen und seine Vorgeschichte(n) ("The empire of
the vandals and its prehistory") (on-line (in German))
^ "Barbarian Invasions" is still a commonly used and accepted term for this period.
See for example Katherine Fischer Drew, "Barbarians, Invasions Of" in Dictionary of
the Middle Ages, edited by Joseph Strayer, Vol.2 1983
^ a) Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Ed., Vol. 20 (Macropædia), page 742, right
column, line 57 ff. (Chicago, 1989). b) Webster's New Universal Unabridged
Dictionary, page 149, voice "Barbarian" (New York, 1983)

Tacitus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tacitus
Born ca. 56 AD

Died ca. 117

Occupation Senator, consul, governor, historian
Genres History
Subjects History, biography, oratory
Literary movement Silver Age of Latin
Debut works Biography: De vita Iulii Agricolae

History: Histories:

Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56 – ca. 117) 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
(presumably) the death of emperor Domitian in 96 AD. There are significant lacunae
in the surviving texts.

Other works by Tacitus discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de
oratoribus), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum), and biographical notes
about his father-in-law Agricola, primarily during his campaign in Britannia (see De
vita et moribus Iulii 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.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Family and early life
1.2 Public life, marriage, and literary career
2 Works
2.1 Major works
2.1.1 The Histories
2.1.2 The Annals
2.2 Minor works
2.2.1 Germania
2.2.2 Agricola (De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae)
2.2.3 Dialogus
3 The sources of Tacitus
4 Literary style
4.1 Approach to history
4.2 Prose style
5 Studies and reception history
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
9.1 Works by Tacitus
9.2 Other material

Biography:

While Tacitus' works contain much information about his world, details regarding
his personal life are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints
throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, an
inscription found at Mylasa in Caria,[1] and educated guesswork.

Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family;[2] like many Latin authors of
the Golden and Silver Ages, he was from the provinces, probably either northern
Italy, Gallia Narbonensis, or Hispania. The exact place and date of his birth are not
known, while his praenomen (first name) is similarly a mystery; in the letters of
Sidonius Apollinaris his name is Gaius, but in the major surviving manuscript of his
work his name is given as Publius.[3] (One scholar's suggestion of Sextus has
gained no traction.)[4]

Family and early life:

Tacitus is thought to have come from Gallia Narbonensis.The older aristocratic
families were largely destroyed during the proscriptions at the end of the Republic,
and Tacitus is clear that he owes his rank to the Flavian emperors (Hist. 1.1). The
theory that he descended from a freedman finds no support apart from his
statement, in an invented speech, that many senators and knights were descended
from freedmen (Ann. 13.27), and is dismissed by prominent historians.[5]

His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who was procurator of Belgica and
Germania; Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who grew and aged
rapidly (N.H. 7.76), and implies an early death. If Cornelius was Tacitus' father and
since there is no mention of Tacitus suffering such a condition in the surviving
record, it would likely refer to a brother instead.[6] This connection, and the
friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus, led many scholars to the
conclusion that the two families were of similar class, means, and background:
equestrians, of significant wealth, and from provincial families.[7]

The province of his birth is unknown. His marriage to the daughter of the
Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola may indicate that he, too, came from
Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus' dedication to Fabius Iustus in the Dialogus may indicate
a connection with Spain, while his friendship with Pliny indicates northern Italy.[8]
None of this evidence is conclusive. No evidence exists that Pliny's friends from
northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Pliny's letters ever hint that the two men had a
common background.[9] Indeed, the strongest piece of evidence is in Pliny Book 9,
Letter 23, which reports that when Tacitus was asked if he were Italian or
provincial, upon giving an unclear answer, was further asked if he were Tacitus or
Pliny. Since Pliny was from Italy, some historians infer that Tacitus was from the
provinces, possibly Gallia Narbonensis.[10]

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;
the Celts had occupied Gaul before the Romans, were famous for their skill in
oratory, and had been subjugated by Rome.[11]

Public life, marriage, and literary career:

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.[12] In 77 or 78 he married
Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola;[13] little is known of their
home life, save that Tacitus loved hunting and the outdoors.[14] He started his
career (probably the latus clavus, mark of the senator)[15] under Vespasian,[16] but
it was in 81 or 82, under Titus, that he entered political life, as quaestor.[17] He
advanced steadily through the cursus honorum, becoming praetor in 88 and a
quindecemvir, a member of the priest college in charge of the Sibylline Books and
the Secular games.[18] He gained acclaim as a lawyer and an orator; his skill in
public speaking gave a marked irony to his cognomen: Tacitus ("silent").

He served in the provinces from ca. 89 to ca. 93 either in command of a legion or in
a civilian post.[19] His person and property survived Domitian's reign of terror (93–
96), but the experience left him jaded and grim (perhaps ashamed at his own
complicity), and gave him the hatred of tyranny evident in his works.[20] 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 Manricus and
Rusticus, before we were steeped in Senecio's innocent blood. Even Nero turned
his eyes away, and did not gaze upon 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.[21]

In the following year he wrote and published the Agricola and Germania,
announcing the beginnings of the literary endeavors that would occupy him until
his death.[22] Afterwards he absented from public life, but returned during Trajan's
reign. In 100, he, along with his friend Pliny the Younger, prosecuted Marius
Priscus (proconsul of Africa) for corruption. Priscus was found guilty and sent into
exile; Pliny wrote a few days later that Tacitus had spoken "with all the majesty
which characterizes his usual style of oratory".[23]

A lengthy absence from politics and law followed while he wrote his two major
works: the Histories and the Annals. In 112 or 113 he held the highest civilian
governorship, that of the Roman province of Asia in Western Anatolia, recorded in
an inscription found at Mylasa (mentioned above). A passage in the Annals fixes
116 as the terminus post quem of his death, which may have been as late as 125.
[24] It is unknown whether he had any children, though the Augustan History
reports that the emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus claimed him for an ancestor and
provided for the preservation of his works—but like so much of the Augustan
History, this story is probably fraudulent.[25]

Works:

The title page of Justus Lipsius's 1598 edition of the complete works of Tacitus,
bearing the stamps of the Bibliotheca Comunale in Empoli, Italy.Five works ascribed
to Tacitus have survived (albeit with some lacunae), the largest of which are the
Annals and the Histories. The dates are approximate:

(98) De vita Iulii Agricolae (The Life of Julius Agricola)
(98) De origine et situ Germanorum (The Germania)
(102) Dialogus de oratoribus (Dialogue on Oratory)
(105) Historiae (Histories)
(117) Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annals)

Major works:

The Annals and the Histories, originally published separately, were meant to form a
single edition of thirty books.[26] Although Tacitus wrote the Histories before the
Annals, the events in the Annals precede the Histories; together they form a
continuous narrative from the death of Augustus (14) to the death of Domitian (96).
Though parts have been lost, what remains is an invaluable record of the era.

The Histories:

Main article: Histories (Tacitus)
In an early chapter of the Agricola, Tacitus said he wished 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 Four Emperors and end with the
despotism of the Flavians. Only the first four books and twenty-six chapters of 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 Great
Jewish Revolt—a short ethnographic survey of the ancient Jews and is an
invaluable record of the educated Romans' attitude towards that people.

The Annals:

Main article: Annals (Tacitus)
The Annals was Tacitus' final work, covering the period from the death of Augustus
Caesar in 14 AD. 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 the Histories. The second half of book 16 is missing (ending
with the events of 66). We do not know whether Tacitus completed the work or
whether he finished the other works that he had planned to write; he died before
he could complete his planned histories of Nerva and Trajan, and no record
survives of the work on Augustus Caesar and the beginnings of the Empire with
which he had planned to finish his work.

Minor works:

Tacitus wrote three minor works on various subjects: the 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.

Germania:

Main article: Germania (book)
The Germania (Latin title: De Origine et situ Germanorum) is an ethnographic work
on the diverse set of people Tacitus believed to be Germanic tribes outside the
Roman Empire. Ethnography had a long and distinguished heritage in classical
literature, and the Germania fits squarely within the tradition established by authors
from Herodotus to Julius Caesar. Tacitus had written a similar, albeit shorter, piece
in his Agricola (chapters 10–13). The book begins with a description of the lands,
laws, and customs of the tribes (chapters 1–27); it then segues into descriptions of
individual tribes, beginning with those dwelling closest to Roman lands and ending
on the uttermost shores of the Baltic Sea, with a description of the primitive and
savage Fenni and the unknown tribes beyond them.

Agricola (De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae):

Main article: Agricola (book)
The Agricola (written ca. 98) recounts the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent
Roman general and Tacitus' 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 the corruption and tyranny of the Empire; the book
also contains eloquent and vicious polemics against the rapacity and greed of
Rome.

Dialogus:

The style of the Dialogus follows Cicero's models for Latin rhetoric.Main article:
Dialogus
There is uncertainty about when Tacitus wrote Dialogus de oratoribus , but it was
probably after the Agricola and the Germania. Many characteristics set it apart from
the other works of Tacitus, so that its authenticity has been questioned, although it
is still grouped with the Agricola and the Germania in the manuscript tradition. The
way of speaking in the Dialogus seems closer to Cicero's proceedings, refined but
not prolix, which inspired the teaching of Quintilian; it lacks the incongruities that
are typical of Tacitus' major historical works. It may have been written when Tacitus
was young; its dedication to Fabius Iustus would thus give the date of publication,
but not the date of writing. More probably, the unusually classical style may be
explained by the fact that the Dialogus is a work dealing with rhetoric. For works in
the rhetoric genre, the structure, the language, and the style of Cicero were the
usual models.

The sources of Tacitus:

Tacitus used the official sources of the Roman state: the acta senatus (the minutes
of the session of the Senate) and the acta diurna populi Romani (a collection of the
acts of the government and news of the court and capital). He read collections of
emperors' speeches, such as Tiberius and Claudius. Generally, Tacitus was a
scrupulous historian who paid careful attention to his historical works. The minor
inaccuracies in the Annals may be due to Tacitus dying before finishing (and
therefore final proofreading) of this work. He used a variety of historical and
literary sources; he used them freely and he chose from sources of varied opinions.

Tacitus cites some of his sources directly, among them Cluvius Rufus, Fabius
Rusticus and Pliny the Elder, who had written Bella Germaniae and a historical work
which was the continuation of that of Aufidius Bassus. Tacitus used some
collections of letters (epistolarium) and various notes. He also took information
from exitus illustrium virorum. These were a collection of books by those who were
antithetical to the emperors. They tell of the sacrifice of the martyr to freedom,
especially the men who committed suicide, following the theory of the Stoics. While
he placed no value on the Stoic theory of suicide, Tacitus used accounts of famous
suicides to give a dramatic tone to his stories. These suicides seemed, to him,
ostentatious and politically useless; however, he gives prominence to the
speeches of some of those about to commit suicide, for example Cremutius Cordus'
speech in Ann. IV, 34-35.

Literary style:

Tacitus' writings are known for their deep-cutting and dense prose, seldom glossy,
in contrast to the more placable style of some of his contemporaries, like Plutarch.
Describing a near defeat of the Roman army in Ann. I, 63 Tacitus does apply gloss,
but does so by the brevity with which he describes the end of the hostilities, than
by embellishing phrases.

In most of his writings he keeps to a chronological ordering of his narration, with
only seldom an outline of the "bigger picture", and leaves the reader to construct
that picture for himself. Nonetheless, when he does sketch the bigger picture, for
example, in the opening paragraphs of the Annals - summarizing the situation at the
end of the reign of Augustus - he uses a few condensed phrases to take the reader
to the heart of the story.

Approach to history:

Tacitus' historical style combines various approaches to history into a method of
his own (owing some debt to Sallust): seamlessly blending straightforward
descriptions of events, pointed moral lessons, and tightly-focused dramatic
accounts, his historiography contains deep, and often pessimistic, insights into the
workings of the human mind and the nature of power.

Tacitus' own declaration regarding his approach to history is famous (Ann. I,1):

inde consilium mihi . . . tradere . . . sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo.
Hence my purpose is to relate . . . without either anger or zeal, from any motives to
which I am far removed.

There has been much scholarly discussion about Tacitus' "neutrality" (or "partiality"
to others, which would make the quote above no more than a figure of speech).

Throughout his writing, Tacitus is concerned with the balance of power between
the Senate and the Emperors, corruption and the growing tyranny among the
governing classes of Rome as they adjust to the new imperial régime. In Tacitus'
view, they squandered their cultural traditions of free speech and independence to
placate the often bemused (and rarely benign) emperor.

Tacitus explored the emperors' increasing dependence on the goodwill of the
armies to secure the principes. The internecine murders of the Julio-Claudians
eventually gave way to opportunist generals. These generals, backed by the
legions they commanded, followed Julius Caesar's example (and that of Sulla and
Pompey) in realising that military might could secure them the political power in
Rome. Tacitus believed this realisation came with the death of Nero, (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' political career was largely spent under the emperor Domitian; his
experience of the tyranny, corruption, and decadence prevalent in the era (81–96)
may explain his bitter and ironic political analysis. He warned against the dangers of
unaccountable power, against the love of power untempered by principle, and
against the popular apathy and corruption, engendered by the wealth of the
empire, which allowed such evils to flourish. The experience of Domitian's
tyrannical reign is generally also seen as the cause of the sometimes unfairly bitter
and ironic cast to his portrayal of the Julio-Claudian emperors.

Nonetheless the image he builds of Tiberius throughout the first six books of the
Annals is neither exclusively bleak nor approving: most scholars analyse the image
of Tiberius as predominantly positive in the first books, becoming predominantly
negative in the following books relating the intrigues of Sejanus. Even then, the
entrance of Tiberius in the first chapters of the first book is a crimson tale
dominated by hypocrisy by and around the new emperor coming to power; and in
the later books some kind of respect for the wisdom and cleverness of the old
emperor, keeping out of Rome to secure his position, is often transparent.

In general Tacitus does not fear to give words of praise and words of rejection to
the same person, often explaining openly which he thinks the commendable and
which the despicable properties. Not conclusively taking sides for or against the
persons he describes is his hallmark, and led thinkers in later times to interpret his
works as well as a defense of an imperial system, as a rejection of the same (see
Tacitean studies, Black vs. Red Tacitists). A better illustration of Tacitus' "sine ira et
studio" is scarcely imaginable.

Prose style:

Tacitus' skill with written Latin is unsurpassed; no other author is considered his
equal, except perhaps for Cicero. His style differs both from the prevalent style of
the Silver Age and from that of the Golden Age; though it has a calculated grandeur
and eloquence (largely thanks to Tacitus' education in rhetoric), it is extremely
concise, even epigrammatic—the sentences are rarely flowing or beautiful, but
their point is always clear. The same style has been both derided as "harsh,
unpleasant, and thorny" and praised as "grave, concise, and pithily eloquent".

His historical works focus on the psyches and inner motivations 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' refusal of the title pater patriae by recalling the
institution of a law forbidding any "treasonous" speech or writings—and the
frivolous prosecutions which resulted (Annals, 1.72). Elsewhere (Annals 4.64–66) he
compares Tiberius' public distribution of fire relief to his failure to stop the
perversions and abuses of justice which he had begun. Though this kind of insight
has earned him praise, he has also been criticized for ignoring the larger context of
the events which he describes.

Tacitus owes the most, both in language and in method, to Sallust; Ammianus
Marcellinus is the later historian whose work most closely approaches him in style.

Studies and reception history:
Main article: Tacitean studies
From Pliny the Younger's 7th Letter (to Tacitus), §33:

Auguror nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras.   I predict, and my
predictions do not fail me, that your histories will be immortal.

Tacitus is remembered first and foremost as Rome's greatest historian, the equal—
if not the superior—of Thucydides, the ancient Greeks' foremost historian; the
Encyclopædia Britannica opined that he "ranks beyond dispute in the highest place
among men of letters of all ages". His influence extends far beyond the field of
history. His work has been read for its moral instruction, its gripping and dramatic
narrative, and its inimitable prose style; it is as a political theorist, though, that he
has been, and remains, most influential outside the field of history.[27] The political
lessons taken from his work fall roughly into two camps, as identified by Giuseppe
Toffanin: the "red Tacitists", who used him to support republican ideals, and the
"black Tacitists", those who read him as a lesson in Machiavellian realpolitik.[28]

Though his work is the most reliable source for the history of his era, its factual
accuracy is occasionally questioned: the Annals are based in part on secondary
sources of unknown reliability, and there are some obvious minor mistakes, for
instance confusing the two daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, both
named Antonia). The Histories, written from primary documents and intimate
knowledge of the Flavian period, is thought to be more accurate, though Tacitus'
hatred of Domitian seemingly colored its tone and interpretations.

See also:

Republic (Plato): Tacitus' critique of "model state" philosophies.
Tacitus on Jesus: a well-known passage from the Annals mentions the death of
Christ (Ann., xv 44).

Notes:

^ OGIS 487, first brought to light in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1890,
pp. 621–623
^ Since he was appointed to the quaestorship during Titus's short rule (see note
below) and twenty-five was the minimum age for the position, the date of his birth
can be fixed with some accuracy
^ See Oliver, 1951, for an analysis of the manuscript from which the name Publius is
taken; see also Oliver, 1977, which examines the evidence for each suggested
praenomen (the well-known Gaius and Publius, the lesser-known suggestions of
Sextus and Quintus) before settling on Publius as the most likely.
^ Oliver, 1977, cites an article by Harold Mattingly in Rivista storica dell'Antichità, 2
(1972) 169–185
^ Syme, 1958, pp. 612–613; Gordon, 1936, pp. 145–146
^ Syme, 1958, p. 60, 613; Gordon, 1936, p. 149; Martin, 1981, p. 26
^ Syme, 1958, p. 63
^ Syme, 1958, pp. 614–616
^ Syme, 1958, pp. 616–619
^ Syme, 1958, p. 619; Gordon, 1936, p. 145
^ Gordon, 1936, pp. 150–151; Syme, 1958, pp. 621–624
^ That he studied rhetoric and law is known from the Dialogus, ch. 2; see also
Martin, 1981, p. 26; Syme, 1958, pp. 114–115
^ Agricola, 9
^ Pliny, Letters 1.6, 9.10; Benario, 1975, pp. 15, 17; Syme, 1958, pp. 541–542
^ Syme, 1958, p. 63; Martin, 1981, pp. 26–27
^ (1.1)
^ His debt to Titus is stated in the Histories (1.1); since Titus's rule was short, these
are the only years possible.
^ In the Annals (11.11) he mentions that, as praetor, he assisted in the Secular
Games held by Domitian, which are dated precisely to 88. See Syme, 1958, p. 65;
Martin, 1981, p. 27
^ The Agricola (45.5) indicates that Tacitus and his wife were absent at the time of
Julius Agricola's death in 93. For his occupation during this time see Syme, 1958, p.
68; Benario, 1975, p. 13; Dudley, 1968, pp. 15–16; Martin, 1981, p. 28; Mellor, 1993, p. 8
^ For the effects on Tacitus's ideology see Dudley, 1968, p. 14; Mellor, 1993, pp. 8–9
^ Pliny, Letters, 2.1 (English)
^ In the Agricola (3) he announces what must be the beginning of his first great
project: the Histories. See Dudley, 1968, p. 16
^ Pliny, Letters 2.11
^ Annals, 2.61, says that the Roman Empire "now extends to the Red Sea". If by
mare rubrum he means the Persian Gulf, as is possible, then the passage must
have been written after Trajan's eastern conquests in 116, but before Hadrian
abandoned the new territories in 117. This may indicate only the date of publication
for the first books of the Annals; Tacitus himself could have lived well into
Hadrian's reign, and there is no reason to suppose that he did not. See Dudley,
1968, p. 17; Mellor, 1993, p. 9; Mendell, 1957, p. 7; Syme, 1958, p. 473; against this
traditional interpretation, e.g., Goodyear, 1981, pp. 387-393.
^ Augustan History, Tacitus X. Scholarly opinion on this story is divided as to
whether it is "a confused and worthless rumor" (Mendell, 1957, p. 4) or "pure
fiction" (Syme, 1958, p. 796). Sidonius Apollinaris reports (Letters, 4.14; cited in
Syme, 1958, p. 796) that Polemius, a 5th century Gallo-Roman aristocrat, descended
from Tacitus—but this too, says Syme (ibid.) is of little use.
^ Jerome's commentary on the Book of Zechariah (14.1, 2; quoted in Mendell, 1957,
p. 228) says that Tacitus's history was extant triginta voluminibus, 'in thirty volumes'.
^ Mellor, 1995, p. xvii
^ Burke, 1969, pp. 162–163

References:

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Quarterly, Vol. 22 (1972), pp. 350–373.
Adams, James N. "The vocabulary of the speeches in Tacitus' historical works".
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Vol. 20 (1973), pp. 120–144.
Adams, James N. "Were the later books of Tacitus' Annals revised?" Rheinisches
Museum, Vol. 117 (1974), pp. 323–333.
Ash, Rhiannon. Ordering Anarchy: Armies and Leaders in Tacitus' Histories (London:
Duckworth, 1999) ISBN 0-7156-2800-3
Barnes, T.D. "The Fragments of Tacitus' Histories". Classical Philology, Vol. 72
(1977), pp. 224–231.
Barnes, T.D. "The Significance of Tacitus' Dialogus de Oratoribus". Harvard Studies
in Classical Philology, Vol. 90 (1986), pp. 225–244.
Barnes, T.D. "Tacitus and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre". Phoenix,
Vol. 52 (1998), pp. 125–148.
Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance. (Princeton, Princeton
University Press, 1966)
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Press, 1975) ISBN 0-8203-0361-5
Birley, Antony R. "The Life and Death of Cornelius Tacitus". Historia, Vol. 49 (2000),
pp. 230–247.
Bosworth, A.B. "Mountain and molehill? Cornelius Tacitus and Curtius Rufus". The
Classical Quarterly, Vol. 54 (2004), pp. 551–567.
Brink, C.O. "Can Tacitus' Dialogus Be Dated? Evidence and Historical Conclusions".
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 96 (1994), pp. 251–280.
Brink, C.O. "Justus Lipsius and the text of Tacitus". The Journal of Roman Studies,
Vol. 41 (1951), pp. 32–51.
Burke, P. "Tacitism" in Dorey, T.A., 1969, pp. 149–171
Clarke, Katherine. "An Island Nation: Re-Reading Tacitus' Agricola". The Journal of
Roman Studies, Vol. 91 (2001), pp. 94–112.
Daitz, S.G. "Tacitus' technique of character portrayal". The American Journal of
Philology, Vol. 81 (1960), pp. 30–52.
Damon, Cynthia. "The Trial of Cn. Piso in Tacitus' Annals and the Senatus Consultum
de Cn. Pisone patre". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 120, No. 1 (1999), pp.
143–162.
Dorey, T.A. (ed.). Tacitus (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969) ISBN 0-7100-
6432-2
Dudley, Donald R. The World of Tacitus (London: Secker and Warburg, 1968) ISBN 0-
436-13900-6
Eck, Werner. "Cheating the Public, or: Tacitus Vindicated". Scripta Classica
Israelica, Vol. 21 (2002), pp. 149–164.
Fletcher, G.B.A. "Assonances or plays on words in Tacitus". The Classical Review,
Vol. 54 (1940), pp. 184–187.
Gill, C. "Character-development in Plutarch and Tacitus". The Classical Quarterly,
Vol. 33 (1983), pp. 469–487.
Ginsburg, Judith. Tradition and theme in the Annals of Tacitus (New York: Arno
Press, 1981)
Goodyear, F.R.D. The Annals of Tacitus, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1981). Commentary on Annals 1.55-81 and Annals 2.
Goodyear, F.R.D. "Development of language and style in the Annals of Tacitus". The
Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 58 (1968), pp. 22–31.
Goodyear, F.R.D. "The readings of the Leiden manuscript of Tacitus". The Classical
Quarterly, Vol. 15 (1965), pp. 299–322.
Goodyear, F.R.D. Tacitus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), Greece & Rome New
Surveys in Classics No. 4. Good survey of scholarship up to 1960s.
Gordon, Mary L. "The Patria of Tacitus". The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 26, Part
2 (1936), pp. 145–151.
Griffin, Miriam T. "Claudius in Tacitus". The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 40 (1990), pp.
482–501.
Griffin, Miriam T. "The Lyons tablet and Tacitean hindsight". The Classical Quarterly,
Vol. 32 (1982), pp. 404–418.
Griffin, Miriam T. "Tacitus and Pliny". Scripta Classica Israelica, Vol. 18 (1999), pp.
139–158.
Griffin, Miriam T. "Tacitus, Tiberius and the Principate", in I. Malkin and Z.
Rubihnson (eds.), Leaders and Masses in the Roman World: Studies in Honour of
Zvi Yavetz (Leiden: Brill, 1995), pp. 33–57.
Haverfield, F. "Tacitus during the Late Roman Period and the Middle Ages". The
Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 6. (1916), pp. 196–201.
Haynes, Holly. The History of Make-Believe: Tacitus on imperial Rome (Berkeley,
Calif.; London: University of California Press, 2003) ISBN 0-520-23650-5
Krebs, Christopher B. Negotiatio Germaniae. Tacitus' Germania und Enea Silvio
Piccolomini, Giannantonio Campano, Conrad Celtis und Heinrich Bebel.
Hypomnemata 158. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005. Pp. 284. ISBN 3-525-
25257-9.
Löfstedt, Einar. "The Style of Tacitus", in Idem, Roman Literary Portraits, transl. by P.
M. Fraser (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), pp.157–180.
Luce, T.J., and Woodman, Antony J. (eds.) Tacitus and the Tacitean Tradition
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) ISBN 0-691-06988-3
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(1926), pp. 289–310.
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(1964), pp. 109–119.
Martin, Ronald. Tacitus (London: Batsford, 1981)
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(1955), pp. 123–128.
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antichità, Vol. 2 (1972), pp. 169–185.
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1995) ISBN 0-8153-0933-3
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Press, 1957) ISBN 0-208-00818-7
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19-814358-3
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ISBN 0-19-815258-2

Works by Tacitus:

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
TacitusWorks by Tacitus at Project Gutenberg
comprehensive links to Latin text and translations in various languages at
ForumRomanum
complete works, Latin and English translation at "The Internet Sacred Text Archive"
(not listed above)

Other material:

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
TacitusWikimedia Commons has media related to:
Gaius Cornelius TacitusBibliography on Tacitus (from Rutgers University Classics
Department)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus"

=============================================

Tacitus on Christ
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the Jesus and history series of
articles.

The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in his Annals (c.
116) about the Great Fire of Rome (64), included an
account of how the emperor Nero blamed the Christians
in Rome for the disaster and initiated the first known
persecution of early Christians by the Romans. This has
become one of the best known and most discussed
passages of Tacitus' works.[1] Although partly aimed at
showing the inhumanity of the emperor, Tacitus' remarks
have been studied more by modern scholars for
information about his own religious attitudes and about
the early history of Christianity.

Contents [hide]
1 Context
2 Authenticity and Reliability
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

Context:

Tacitus describes the support for the homeless provided
by Nero and the rebuilding of the city, then refers to
religious rituals carried out based on a consultation of the
Sibylline Books.[2] However, none of this did away with
the suspicion that the fire had been started on Nero's
orders:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the
guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class
hated for their abominations, called Christians by the
populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin,
suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius
at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus,
and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for
the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first
source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find
their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest
was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their
information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so
much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against
mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their
deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn
by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were
doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly
illumination, when daylight had expired.[3]

Tacitus then returns to the topic of Nero's reputation and
the effect on it of these events: "Nero offered his gardens
for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the
circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a
charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for
criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary
punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it
was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one
man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed."[3]

Authenticity and Reliability:

Some have suggested that this passage could be a later
addition by Christian scribes. Stein, Gordon, The
American Rationalist, "The Jesus of History: A Reply to
Josh McDowell" (1982) No early Christian writers refer to
Tacitus even when discussing the subject of Nero and
Christian persecution, although this is an argument from
silence. Tertullian, Lactantius, Sulpicius Severus,
Eusebius and Augustine of Hippo make no reference to
Tacitus when discussing Christian persecution by Nero.
[4] Sulpicius Severus repeats the passage nearly
verbatum without crediting Tacitus in Chronica, but it is
unknown whether Severus borrowed from Tacitus,
whether a Christian scribe inserted Severus into Tacitus
or whether a third source was involved. The passage
also mistakenly calls Pontius Pilate a procurator instead
of a prefect, a mistake also made in a passage by
Josephus.[5] This mistake, while possibly showing a
common editor of Tacitus and Josphus could also be
Tacitus using Josephus as a source or both of them
using a common source.

On the other hand, others argue that the passage is far
too critical of Christians to be added by Christian scribes.
The passage even implies that the Christians may have
been guilty of setting fire to Rome. Further, there may be
evidence of persecution against Christians in Rome
during Nero's reign. The historian Suetonius also
mentions Christians being harmed during this period by
Nero, but there is no connection made with the fire. [6]
Robert Van Voorst writes that "the vast majority of
scholars" conclude that the passage is authentic.[7]

Notes:

^ Syme 533 n. 5 ("This famous chapter has provoked an
enormous literature...").
^ Tacitus, Annals 15.39–43.
^ a b Tacitus, Annals 15.44, translated by Church and
Brodribb.
^ See Tertullian, Apologeticum, lost text quoted in
Eusebis, Ecclesiastical History II.25.4; Lactantius, Of the
Manner in Which the Persecutors Died II; Sulpicius
Severus, Chronica II.28; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History
II.25.5; Augustine of Hippo, City of God XX.19.3
^ Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.3.1
^ Suetonius, Lives of Twelve Caesars Life of Nero 16
^ Robert Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament,
pp. 42-43 as quoted at earlychristianwritings.com

References:

Syme, Ronald (1958). Tacitus. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-814327-3.

External links:

Early Christian Writings: Cornelius Tacitus
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Tacitus_on_Christ"
Categories: Ancient Roman Christianity | Jesus and
history | Tacitus

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Cornelius Tacitus