Cornelius Tacitus

Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ˈ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >t</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >æ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >s</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ɨ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >t</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ə</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >s</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a>; Classical Latin: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Latin" title="Help:IPA for Latin" >[ˈtakɪtʊs]</a>; c. AD 56 – after 117) was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Senate" title="Roman Senate" >senator</a> and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian" title="Historian" >historian</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire" title="Roman Empire" >Roman Empire</a>. The surviving portions of his two major works—the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals(Tacitus)" title="Annals (Tacitus)" >Annals</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histories(Tacitus)" title="Histories (Tacitus)" >Histories</a>—examine the reigns of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Emperor" title="Roman Emperor" class="mw-redirect" >Roman Emperors</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius" title="Tiberius" >Tiberius</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius" title="Claudius" >Claudius</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero" title="Nero" >Nero</a>, and those who reigned in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Four_Emperors" title="Year of the Four Emperors" >Year of the Four Emperors</a> (AD 69). These two works span the history of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire" title="Roman Empire" >Roman Empire</a> from the death of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus" title="Augustus" >Augustus</a> in AD 14 to the years of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War" title="First Jewish–Roman War" >First Jewish–Roman War</a> in AD 70. There are substantial <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacuna_(manuscripts)" title="Lacuna (manuscripts)" >lacunae</a> in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long.

Other writings by him discuss <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_speaking" title="Public speaking" >oratory</a> (in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue" title="Dialogue" >dialogue</a> format, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogus_de_oratoribus" title="Dialogus de oratoribus" >Dialogus de oratoribus</a>), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania" title="Germania" >Germania</a> (in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania(book)" title="Germania (book)" >De origine et situ Germanorum</a>), and the life of his father-in-law,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Julius_Agricola" title="Gnaeus Julius Agricola" >Agricola</a>, the Roman general responsible for much of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest_of_Britain" title="Roman conquest of Britain" >Roman conquest</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia(Roman_province)" title="Britannia (Roman province)" class="mw-redirect" >Britain</a>, mainly focusing on his campaign in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia" title="Britannia" >Britannia</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_vita_et_moribus_Iulii_Agricolae" title="De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae" class="mw-redirect" >De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae</a>).

Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus#cite_note-Voorst39-1" >[1]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus#cite_note-2" >[2]</a> He lived in what has been called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Age_of_Latin_literature" title="Silver Age of Latin literature" class="mw-redirect" >Silver Age of Latin literature</a>. He is known for the brevity and compactness of his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language" title="Latin language" class="mw-redirect" >Latin</a> prose, as well as for his penetrating insights into the psychology of power politics.

Cornelius Tacitus

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