The Lives of the Twelve Caesars -Grammarians, Rhetoricians and Poets-: Scholars of Ancient Rome

The Lives of the Twelve Caesars #1-14

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.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

38 pages, Hardcover

Published April 3, 2018

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

[Kristina]

Interesting text both for the historical context and to illuminate how different a biography with added gossip could be. This particular version was such drudge to read, however, that I probably would prefer to learn Latin and go back to the original.