Tacitus' Annals is the central historical source for first-century C.E. Rome. It is prized by historians since it provides the best narrative material for the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero, as well as a probing analysis of the imperial system of government. But the Annals should be seen as far more than an historical source, a mere mine for the reconstruction of the facts of Roman history. While the Annals is a superb work of history, it has also become a central text in the western literary, political, and even philosophical traditions - from the Renaissance to the French and American revolutions, and beyond. This volume attempts to enhance the reader's understanding of how this book of history could have such a profound effect.Chapters will address the purpose, form, and method of Roman historical writing, the ethnic biases of Tacitus, and his use of sources. Since Tacitus has been regarded as one of the first analysts of the psychopathology of political life, the book will examine the emperors, the women of the court, and the ambitious entourage of freedmen and intellectuals who surround every Roman ruler. The final chapter will examine the impact of Tacitus' Annals since their rediscovery by Boccaccio in the 14th century.

Book XVI of Tacitus' Annals is the last of the surviving books of the great Roman historian's monumental account of the reigns of the emperors from Tiberius to Nero. The unfinished book offers a stunning portrait of Nero in his last years, a man now free of the restraining influences of his mother Agrippina and tutor Seneca. Annals XVI presents such unforgettable scenes as the spectacle of Petronius' suicide, and the mad quest of Nero to find the gold of the Carthaginian queen Dido. This edition provides a commentary to the entire book, with notes carefully aimed at first-time readers of Tacitus as well as more advanced students. An introduction provides a guide to what we know of Tacitus' life and work, as well as to the reign of Nero and Tacitus' depiction of an empire in transition, of a Rome teetering on the verge of chaos and collapse. A full vocabulary at the end of the volume is a vital resource for students preparing this text for class work or assessment.

Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the Annals, Tacitus includes numerous references to the gods, fate, fortune, astrology, omens, temples, priests, the emperor cult, and other religious material. Though scholars have long considered Tacitus' discussion of religion of minor importance, this volume demonstrates the significance of such references to an understanding of the work as a whole by analyzing them using cultural memory theory, which views religious ritual as a key component in any society's efforts to create a lived version of the past that helps define cultural identity in the present. Tacitus, who was not only an historian, but also a member of Rome's quindecimviral priesthood, shows a marked interest in even the most detailed rituals of Roman religious life, yet his portrayal of religious material also suggests that the system is under threat with the advent of the principate. Some traditional rituals are forgotten as the shape of the Roman state changes while, simultaneously, a new form of cultic commemoration develops as deceased emperors are deified and the living emperor and his family members are treated in increasingly worshipful ways by his subjects. This study traces the deployment of religious material throughout Tacitus' narrative in order to show how he views the development of this cultic "amnesia" over time, from the reign of the cryptic, autocratic, and oddly mystical Tiberius, through Claudius' failed attempts at reviving tradition, to the final sacrilegious disasters of the impious Nero. As the first book-length treatment of religion in the Annals, it reveals how these references are a key vehicle for his assessment of the principate as a system of government, the activities of individual emperors, and their impact on Roman society and cultural identity.

Helps students and instructors read and appreciate this extraordinary piece of historical writing about Nero's infamous reign as emperor.

This is the OCR-endorsed publication from Bloomsbury for the Latin AS and A-Level (Group 1) prescription of Annals Book I sections 16–30 and the A-Level (Group 2) prescription of Annals Book I sections 3–7, 11–14 and 46–49, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction that also covers the prescribed text to be read in English for A Level. Annals I starts with the death of Augustus and the beginning of Tiberius' principate. Tacitus chronicles the uneasy and unprecedented transition from one to the other, in the context of a political elite shaken by years of civil war and unsure as to how best to protect their own interests and the stability Augustus had brought to Rome. With damning references to the servile nature of the new regime, Tacitus vividly paints scenes of confused senatorial debates, and Tiberius' own uncertainty over his own position and the best decisions to make. Opportunistic rebellions in the army are described with dramatic brilliance.

This is the first intermediate-student edition of a selection from Tacitus' Annals I. Sections 3–7, 11–14, 16–30 and 46–49 are included as Latin text with an accompanying commentary and vocabulary. Focusing on a deliberately concise extract from the original, this edition is designed to be manageable for students reading the text for the first time while also perfectly encapsulating the interest of the longer work and inspiring further study of it. A detailed introduction explains points of historical and stylistic interest. Annals I starts with the death of Augustus and the beginning of Tiberius' principate. Tacitus chronicles the uneasy and unprecedented transition from one to the other, in the context of a political elite shaken by years of civil war and unsure as to how best to protect their own interests and the stability Augustus had brought to Rome. With damning references to the servile nature of the new regime, Tacitus vividly paints scenes of confused senatorial debates, and Tiberius' own uncertainty over his own position and the best decisions to make. Opportunistic rebellions in the army are described with dramatic brilliance.

This is the OCR-endorsed edition covering the Latin A-Level (Group 2) prescription of Annals XIV, 1–13, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction that also covers the prescribed material to be read in English for A Level. Tacitus is one of the great Roman historians. His Annals, written in the early-2nd century CE, described the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero, covering the years 14–68 CE. In this selection he provides a memorable vignette of Nero's decadence and cruelty in the failed and then successful murder of his own mother, Agrippina. The drama of Nero's reign must be read in the context of Tacitus' perspective as an author writing within living memory of the events he describes, events which shaped the further development of imperial rule. Supporting resources are available on the Companion Website: https://www.bloomsbury.pub/OCR-editions-2024-2026

This is the OCR-endorsed edition covering the Latin AS and A-Level (Group 1) prescription of Tacitus Annals XII, 25-26, 41–43, 52–53, 56–59, 64–69, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction. It is AD 48 and the emperor Claudius marries his 4th wife Agrippina. Little does he know that over the next six years she will build her power and destroy her opponents, until she is ready for her greatest crime – the murder of Claudius himself to enable the accession of her son Nero. Tacitus creates a gripping account of the struggle for power under a weak princeps, involving family rivals, scheming freedmen and servile senators. Supporting resources are available on the Companion Website: https://www.bloomsbury.pub/OCR-editions-2024-2026

e emperor Nero is etched into the Western imagination as one of ancient Rome's most infamous villains, and Tacitus' Annals have played a central role in shaping the mainstream historiographical understanding of this flamboyant autocrat. This section of the text plunges us straight into the moral cesspool that Rome had apparently become in the later years of Nero's reign, chronicling the emperor's fledgling stage career including his plans for a grand tour of Greece; his participation in a city-wide orgy climaxing in his publicly consummated 'marriage' to his toy boy Pythagoras; the great fire of AD 64, during which large parts of central Rome went up in flames; and the rising of Nero's 'grotesque' new palace, the so-called 'Golden House', from the ashes of the city. This building project stoked the rumours that the emperor himself was behind the conflagration, and Tacitus goes on to present us with Nero's gruesome efforts to quell these mutterings by scapegoating and executing members of an unpopular new cult then starting to spread through the Roman empire: Christianity. All this contrasts starkly with four chapters focusing on one of Nero's most principled opponents, the Stoic senator Thrasea Paetus, an audacious figure of moral fibre, who courageously refuses to bend to the forces of imperial corruption and hypocrisy. This course book offers a portion of the original Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and a commentary. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, Owen's and Gildenhard's incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at both A2 and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis and historical background to encourage critical engagement with Tacitus' prose and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought.