Galba, Otho & Vitellius

by Suetonius

The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The work, written in AD 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Suetonius, at that time Hadrian's personal secretary, and is the largest among his surviving writings. The Twelve Caesars is considered very significant in antiquity and remains a primary source on Roman history.

38 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 1992

About the author

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius (ca. 69/75 - after 130), was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar until Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians. A few of these books have partially survived, but many are entirely lost.

Reviews

[John Isles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains the Latin text of Suetonius's lives of the three briefly reigning Roman emperors who followed Nero. It's not a translation, as stated in the Goodreads description of the book. The introduction is authoritative, the texts are accurate, and the commentary is informative. We just finished reading and translating these lives in the Suetonius group on the LatinStudy email list (https://www.quasillum.com/study/latin...) and the book was very helpful.