Taylor reviewed The twelve Caesars by Suetonius (Penguin classics)
Review of 'The twelve Caesars' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Rome was wild. This covers roughly 100 BC (birth of Julius) to 96 AD (end of Domitian), written around 120 AD.
Rives' introduction describes this as an uneven biography, assessing whether each emperor was a success or failure. It gets into personal details, like emperor's pastimes, vices, relationships, atrocities, etc. It’s also a great look into daily life in Rome, discussing public games, public sentiment, citizenry and laws, etc. Suetonius had access to the imperial archives while in charge of his current emperor’s correspondence. Gossip played some role in knowing things like an emperor’s personal motivations, swimming abilities, sleeping habits, and final words, but Suetonius often mentions when there are differing accounts of an event.
I liked the format. The writing is less focused on specific years and facts, but comes with many resources to help piece everything together. This Penguin edition comes with a chronology, introduction, analyses of the …
Rome was wild. This covers roughly 100 BC (birth of Julius) to 96 AD (end of Domitian), written around 120 AD.
Rives' introduction describes this as an uneven biography, assessing whether each emperor was a success or failure. It gets into personal details, like emperor's pastimes, vices, relationships, atrocities, etc. It’s also a great look into daily life in Rome, discussing public games, public sentiment, citizenry and laws, etc. Suetonius had access to the imperial archives while in charge of his current emperor’s correspondence. Gossip played some role in knowing things like an emperor’s personal motivations, swimming abilities, sleeping habits, and final words, but Suetonius often mentions when there are differing accounts of an event.
I liked the format. The writing is less focused on specific years and facts, but comes with many resources to help piece everything together. This Penguin edition comes with a chronology, introduction, analyses of the ‘Lives’ (index of each caesar’s notable actions), further reading, glossary of terms (very helpful), glossary of place names in Rome, 10 maps with keys, the four family trees, notes (from each caesar’s chapter), and an index of historical persons.
