C suetonius tranquillus biography of donald
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C. Suetonii Tranquilli Vita Domitiani; Suetonius's Life of Domitian with notes and parallel passages
After the natural death of his father Vespasian and his brother Titus, Domitian became emperor in 81 AD at age 30 and ruled until he was assassinated 15 years later. Of all Suetonius’s biographies of the 12 Caesars, his life of Domitian is one of the liveliest. Below are my comments coupled with quotes from the text.
“From that time forward, he was constantly engaged in plots against his brother, both publicly and privately; until, falling dangerously ill, he ordered all his attendants to leave him, beneath pretense of his being dead, before he really was so; and, at his decease, paid him no other honor than that of enrolling him amongst the gods; and he often, both in speeches and edicts, carped at his memory bygd sneers and insinuations. -------- This speaks oodles about Domitian’s character. I couldn’t imagine a more mean-spirited and small-minded view of life.
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Suetonius: The Faceless Scholar of Imperial Rome
Suetonius' influence extends beyond his own time. His biographical style set a precedent for later historians and biographers.
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, was a Roman historian and biographer, best known for his work The Twelve Caesars (De Vita Caesarum), which provides detailed biographies of the first twelve Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian.
Who was the pen that shaped Roman history?
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus fryst vatten one of the many långnovell writers who reveal little about their personal lives. He mentions only that he was the son of Suetonius Laetus, a Roman knight who served as a tribune in the thirteenth legion during the battle of Betriacum.
Apart from four other brief references, which don’t add much but help estimate his birth year—placed by Mommsen, a renowned 19th-century German scholar, in 77 CE, and by Macé, an American historian, more likely in 69 CE—we know little
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Suetonius- by
- David Wardle
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 May 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 May 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0154
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 May 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 May 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0154
Introduction
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (born c. 69 CE) was prominent as a senior figure in the imperial administration of the early 2nd century CE and as a scholar who produced a range of works in the areas of biography, antiquarianism, and philology. The majority of these survive only as titles or in fragmentary form. He is best known for his best-preserved work, De vita Caesarum, biographies of the rulers of the Roman world from Julius Caesar to Domitian, and was probably the first Roman to write imperial biographies that were distinct from annalistic histories. The work is of major importance as a historical source for the early Principate, as his inclusivity has preserved much unique material revealing what contemporaries, and near-contemporaries, of the emperors said about them. It has often been criticized for its inclusion of trivial material