Tacitus and Tiberius

The reign of Tiberius, covered in Books I-VI of Tacitus’ Annales, has had a grim reputation since antiquity, and its darker aspects are unforgettably handled in these books, the historian’s masterpiece. You are expected to study Books I and III in Latin and to know the rest in English (part of Book V is lost, however). Questions which need consideration are Tacitus’ sources, motives and ‘bias’ or is that the wrong term entirely?; the political conditions at Rome and the wider picture of the empire; the role of the armies; the power of the senate and the handling of the laws of maiestas. Crucial too is the question how far Tacitus’ conception of historical writing resembled those of modern scholars (themselves far from united in approach). This is a challenging but rewarding paper.