The Annals

Most likely born in the south of modern France on the Mediterranean, Tacitus is one of the most famous Roman historians. Tacitus is best known for The Annals and Histories, covering the history of Ancient Rome in very minute detail, and he also wrote Germania, a fascinating description of the Germanic people as seen from the Roman point of view circa 100 A.D.

The Annals is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this history in a year-by-year form. The original title was most likely Ab excessu divi Augusti, "Following the death of the divine Augustus." Parts of several books in The Annals have been lost, as have all of Books VII-X, and it seems the end of The Annals in Book XVI was also lost. The Annals is also important to Christians as it confirms some of what is recorded in the Canonical gospels, although such confirmation has been challenged on the basis of its historicity in modern times.

This edition of The Annals is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and images of Tacitus, the emperors he covered, and Ancient Rome.