Tacitus and Tiberius
Why did Tacitus, writing a century after the events he was describing, choose to begin his history of early imperial Rome with a long and jaundiced account of the grim Tiberius, rather than with the reign of the much-admired Augustus? The course studies Tacitus' representation of Tiberius against the background of surviving contemporary evidence, and particular emphasis will be given to recently discovered inscriptions on bronze -- the Tabula Siarensis, the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre, and the Senatus Consultum from Larinum. Topics include the attitudes of both the Senate and Roman people towards Tiberius and to the imperial family as a whole. The text prescribed for study in translation is Tacitus, Annals I-VI, with gobbets to be set from books I and III. (Course convenor: K. Clarke, St Hilda’s).
Translations: Tacitus, Annals, I, III [and II, IV-VI]. A.J. Woodman, tr., The Annals of Tacitus, Indianapolis, Hackett, 2004
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November 10, 2008.
Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LU.