Tacitus’ narrative of 69 CE, the year of the four emperors, is famous for its description of a series of coups that sees one man after another crowned. Many scholars seem to read Tacitus as though he wrote only about the constricted world of imperial Rome and the machinations of emperors, courtiers, and victims of the principate; even recent work on the Histories either passes over or lightly touches upon civil unrest and revolts in the provinces. In Provincial Soldiers and Imperial Instability in the Histories of Tacitus, Jonathan Master looks beyond imperial politics and finds threats to the Empire’s stability among unassimilated foreign subjects who were made to fight in the Roman army. Master draws on scholarship in political theory, Latin historiography, Roman history, and ethnic identity to demonstrate how Tacitus presented to his contemporary audience in Trajanic Rome the dangerous consequences of the city’s failure to reward and incorporate its provincial subjects. Master argues that Tacitus’ presentation of the Vitellian and Flavian armies, and especially the Batavian auxiliary soldiers, reflects a central lesson of the Histories: the Empire’s exploitation of provincial manpower (increasingly the majority of all soldiers under Roman banners) while offering little in return, set the stage for civil wars and ultimately the separatist Batavian revolt.

The Tacitus Encyclopedia ist das einzige vollständige Referenzwerk seiner Art im Bereich der Tacitus-Studien. Das zweibändige Werk enthält mehr als 1.000 Einträge zu jeder Person und jedem Ort, die in den erhaltenen Werken des römischen Historikers und Politikers Tacitus (ca. 56-120 n. Chr.) Erwähnung finden. In den von einem internationalen Autorenteam verfassten Beiträgen werden die bei Tacitus genannten Personen und Orte in den Kontext eingeordnet, und es werden ihre Beziehungen zum größeren taciteischen Korpus aufgezeigt. Die Einträge sind alphabetisch geordnet und mit Querverweisen versehen. Sie enthalten allgemeine Beschreibungen und Hintergrundinformationen zu den in den Texten genannten Stichworten, Zitate aus antiken Quellen und der einschlägigen Wissenschaft sowie Empfehlungen zum Weiterlesen. Die Enzyklopädie, die als Ausgangspunkt für weitere Forschungen gedacht ist, umfasst zudem 165 Themenschwerpunkte in Verbindung mit den Tacitus-Studien, darunter antike Geschichtsschreibung, Geschichte, Sozialgeschichte, Geschlecht und Sexualität, Literaturkritik, antike Autoren, Rezeption und materielle Kultur. Dieses unverzichtbare Nachschlagewerk bietet nicht nur einen umfassenden Überblick über die Inhalte der taciteischen Schriften, sondern darüber hinaus: * Eine Darstellung von rund 1.000 Personen sowie 400 Regionen, Städten und Orten, geografischen und topologischen Merkmalen * Einen verständlichen Einstieg in die Werke des Tacitus, insbesondere die Annalen, Historien, Agricola, Germania und Dialogus de oratoribus für Leserinnen und Leser mit unterschiedlichen Vorkenntnissen * Die Erörterung einer großen Bandbreite an Themen wie Geschlechterfragen, Sklaverei, Literaturgeschichte sowie der Regentschaft einzelner Herrscher * Eine Präsentation der wissenschaftlichen Erforschung und Rezeption von Tacitus von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart * Betrachtungen der wissenschaftlichen Trends, der aktuellen Methodik und künftigen Richtungen der Tacitus-Studien Das Werk The Tacitus Encyclopedia ist als Druckfassung und als Online-Version erhältlich. Es ist ein unentbehrliches Referenzwerk für Studierende und Forschende in den Bereichen Geschichte und Geschichtsschreibung, Klassische Philologie, Kunstgeschichte, Sozialwissenschaften, Europäische Geistesgeschichte, Archäologie und Romanistik.

Analyzes how Tacitus contributed to our current understanding of history and reveals the themes that permeated his writing

This study examines how Tacitus' representation of speech determines the roles of speakers within the political sphere, and explores the possibility of politically effective speech in the principate. It argues against the traditional scholarly view that Tacitus refuses to offer a positive view of senatorial power in the principate: while senators did experience limitations and changes to what they could achieve in public life, they could aim to create a dimension of political power and efficacy through speeches intended to create and sustain relations which would in turn determine the roles played by both senators or an emperor. Ellen O'Gorman traces Tacitus' own charting of these modes of speech, from flattery and aggression to advice, praise, and censure, and explores how different modes of speech in his histories should be evaluated: not according to how they conform to pre-existing political stances, but as they engender different political worlds in the present and future. The volume goes beyond literary analysis of the texts to create a new framework for studying this essential period in ancient Roman history, much in the same way that Tacitus himself recasts the political authority and presence of senatorial speakers as narrative and historical analysis.

This volume breaks new ground by exploring how the political actors of different formal statuses, age, and gender were able to “take the lead” in ancient Rome through initiating communication, proposing new solutions, and prompting others to act.

This volume explores the theme of marginality in the literature and history of the Neronian and Flavian periods. As a concept of modern criticism, the term marginality has been applied to the connection between the uprooted experience of immigrant communities and the subsequent diasporas these groups formed in their new homes. The concept also covers individuals or groups who were barred from access to resources and equal opportunities based on their deviation from a "normal" or dominant culture or ideology. From a literary vantage point, we are interested in the voices of "marginal," or underappreciated authors and critical voices. The distinction between marginalia and "the" text is often nebulous, with marginal comments making their way into the paradosis and being regarded, in modern criticism, as important sources of information in their own right. The analysis of relevant passages from various authors including Lucan, Petronius, Persius, Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, Silius Italicus, and Statius, as well as the Moretum of the Appendix Vergiliana is vital for our understanding of the treatment of marginalized people in various literary genres in relation to each one’s different purposes.

Ammianus Marcellinus was a soldier and an author. This book explores how his experience of 4th-century military life affected his writing of history and conversely how his knowledge of literature influenced his writing about the Roman army.