Cornelius Tacitus

Tacitus
Modern statue representing Tacitus outside the Austrian Parliament Building
Born	c. 56 AD
Died	c. 120 AD (aged c. 64)
Occupation	Senator, consul, governor, historian
Genre	History, Silver Age of Latin
Subject	History, biography, oratory

Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (/ˈtæsᵻtəs/; Classical Latin: [ˈtakɪtʊs]; c. AD 56 – c. AD 120) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus, in AD 14, to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War, in AD 70. There are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long.

Tacitus' other writings discuss oratory (in dialogue format, see Dialogus de oratoribus), Germania (in De origine et situ Germanorum), and the life of his father-in-law, Agricola, the Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain, mainly focusing on his campaign in Britannia (De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae).