Sunday 27 March 2011

In Conclusion...

Over this blog, it has been my task to discern the value of three particular verses with Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars. I have assessed the objectivity of the extract, the motives and influences which may have affected what Suetonius wrote and how he wrote, and I have also looked at what we can learn about Ancient Rome from this extract.

In the first section, I used secondary sources to judge whether Suetonius was being objective in the extract, and from looking at his style of writing at other parts of The Twelve Caesars I believe I can say quite confidently that Suetonius is an objective historian.

In the second section, I looked at Suetonius’ place in the class system, and his position as private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, to see if there was anything which may have influenced his writings. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that Suetonius did not seem to show a bias to his own class, though one motive may have been to appeal to the general Roman populace with scandal and intrigue.

Finally, I assessed the value of the extract. I came to the conclusion that the value does not necessarily lie in the extracts information on Caesar, but how it was written. The style seems to appeal to a population that demands gossip, in that sense they are not so different to modern populations.

In Conclusion, I can say that The Twelve Caesars gives us an insight into the pleb, the regular people in the city, how they enjoyed to hear gossip about the establishment, and the more scandalous the better.


Bibliography


Braund DC (1985) Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History (31 BC – AD 68). Beckenham: Croom Helm Ltd.

Charlesworth MP (1950) ‘Nero: Some Aspects’ in The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 40, Parts 1 and 2. p. 69-76.

Cochran LR (1980) ‘Suetonius' Conception of Imperial Character’ in Biography, Volume 3, Number 3. p. 189-201.

Coulston, J & H Dodge, eds (2000) Ancient Rome: The Archaeology of the Eternal City, Oxford:  Oxford University School of Archaelogy.

Goodman, M (1997) The Roman World: 44BC – AD180, London: Routledge.

Griffin, MT (2001) Nero: the End of a Dynasty, London: Routledge.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.8.3.

Martin R.H. (1985) The Classical Review (Volume 35). Oxford: Oxford University Press

Mellor, R (1999) The Roman Historians, London: Routledge.

Potter, DS, eds (2006) A Companion to the Roman Empire, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Pseudo-Seneca, Octavia

Shotter, D (2005) Nero (2nd edition), London: Routledge.

Starr, CG (1982) The Roman Empire: 27 B.C. – A.D. 476, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Suetonius (1979) The Twelve Caesars, London: Penguin Books.

Tacitus (1996) The Annals of Imperial Rome, London: Penguin Books.

Wallace-Hadrill A (1983) Suetonius: The Scholar and his Caesars, London: Duckworth.

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