The Twelve Caesars (Royal Collector's Edition) (Annotated) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)

by Suetonius

Overview

The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. The book discusses the significant and critical period of the Principate from the end of the Republic to the reign of Domitian. Packed with gossip, drama, and sometimes humour, The Twelve Caesars was considered very significant in antiquity and remains a primary source on Roman history.

Written in 121 AD during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, The Twelve Caesars was the most popular work of Suetonius, at that time Hadrian's personal secretary, and is the largest among his surviving writings. The book provides valuable information on the heritage, personal habits, physical appearance, lives, and political careers of the first Roman emperors, which include Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. Also included are the lives of eminent grammarians, rhetoricians, and poets.

This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774761304
Publisher:	Royal Classics
Publication date:	01/24/2021
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	464,182
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.31(d)

About the Author

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c. 69 - after 122 AD), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. He was probably born about 69 AD, a date deduced from his remarks describing himself as a "young man" twenty years after Nero's death. His place of birth is disputed, but most scholars place it in Hippo Regius, a small north African town in Numidia, in modern-day Algeria. It is certain that Suetonius came from a family of moderate social position, that his father, Suetonius Laetus, was a tribune belonging to the equestrian order (tribunus angusticlavius) in the Legio XIII Gemina, and that Suetonius was educated when schools of rhetoric flourished in Rome. Suetonius was a close friend of senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes him as "quiet and studious, a man dedicated to writing." Pliny helped him buy a small property and interceded with the Emperor Trajan to grant Suetonius immunities usually granted to a father of three, the ius trium liberorum, because his marriage was childless. Through Pliny, Suetonius came into favour with Trajan and Hadrian. Suetonius may have served on Pliny's staff when Pliny was Proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus (northern Asia Minor) between 110 and 112. Under Trajan he served as secretary of studies (precise functions are uncertain) and director of Imperial archives. Under Hadrian, he became the Emperor's secretary. But Hadrian later dismissed Suetonius for the latter's alleged affair with the empress Sabina. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to 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 have been lost.