Tacitus

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life and career
First literary works
The Histories and the Annals
Sources
Style and importance

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Marble statue of Tacitus seated with a scroll, draped in classical robes, in front of columns at the Parliament building in Vienna.

At a Glance

Tacitus summary

Quizzes

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

History Buff Quiz

Related Questions

How did Agricola’s career in Britain influence Tacitus’s writing?
How did Galba lose power according to Tacitus’s Histories?
How did Sallust influence Tacitus’s historical writing?
How did Tacitus focus on the character of Roman emperors?
How did Tacitus portray Claudius in the Annals?
How did Tacitus portray Emperor Domitian’s treatment of the Roman aristocracy?
How did Tacitus portray Tiberius in the Annals?
How did Tacitus use Agrippina the Younger’s memoirs as a historical source?
How did Tacitus use a year-by-year structure in the Annals?
How did Tacitus use short epigrams to make political points?
How did Vespasian become emperor in 69 CE?
How does Tacitus’s Agricola portray Gnaeus Julius Agricola?
What did Tacitus witness during the final years of Emperor Domitian’s rule?
What features made Tacitus’s Latin writing style distinctive?
What responsibilities did the priestly college have for the Sibylline Books?
What time period did Tacitus cover in the Histories?
When did Tacitus become a Roman consul?
When did Tacitus become a praetor?
When did Tacitus marry the daughter of Gnaeus Julius Agricola?
When did Tacitus write Germania?
When did Tacitus write the Agricola?
When did the Roman historian Tacitus die?
Which Roman frontier is the focus of Tacitus’s Germania?
Which Roman priestly college did Tacitus join after becoming praetor?
Which books of Tacitus’s Histories still survive?
Which records did Tacitus use to write about Roman emperors?
Which years of Roman Britain are described in Tacitus’s Agricola?
Why did Otho commit suicide during the civil war of 69 CE?
Why is Tacitus’s Histories incomplete?
What did Titus do?
What was Titus’s family like?
Who was St. Ambrose?
What was Caligula’s legacy?
What was Grotius’s role in Dutch politics?
Why is Pliny the Elder important?
What was Pliny the Elder’s occupation?
What did Pliny the Elder write?
How did Pliny the Elder die?
What was Seneca’s family like?

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External Websites

Dickinson College Commentaries - Tacitus / Agricola
UNRV Roman History - Tacitus
History Today - Tacitusï¿½ Perfect Man
Livius - Tacitus
Jewish Virtual Library - TacitusÂ°
Ancient History Encyclopedia - Tacitus

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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Cornelius Tacitus - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Tacitus

Roman historian

Also known as: Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, Publius Cornelius Tacitus(Show More)

Written by

Alexander Hugh McDonald

Lecturer in Ancient History, University of Cambridge, 1952–73. Author of Republican Rome.

Alexander Hugh McDonald

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Tacitus (born ad 56—died c. 120) was a Roman orator and public official, probably the greatest historian and one of the greatest prose stylists who wrote in the Latin language. Among his works are the Germania, describing the Germanic tribes, the Historiae (Histories), concerning the Roman Empire from ad 69 to 96, and the later Annals, dealing with the empire in the period from ad 14 to 68. Tacitus was born perhaps in northern Italy...

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