The Histories

Classical Rome was known for its forward-thinking approach to science, politics, civics, and military tactics, but many of its most brilliant thinkers preferred to cast their minds backward, expanding the idea of history as a valuable field of study. One of the greatest of these thinkers was Tacitus — a man born almost two millennia ago, but who still maintains significant influence among scholars and classicists.

Tacitus' Histories — along with his subsequent set of volumes, the Annals — are arguably his most famous work. Written over roughly 10 years, from around the year 100 to 110AD, the Histories cover the period of Roman history from 69 to 96AD. Over this 30-year period, following the death of Nero, Rome experienced the Year of the Four Emperors and the subsequent despotism of the Flavian Dynasty, as well as the First Jewish-Roman War. Tacitus' writing on this war has not survived, but the first four books of the Histories, as well as part of the fifth volume, have become critical works in the classical history canon.