Tacitus: The Histories
07/27/2016
The Histories (Latin: Historiae) is a work by Tacitus, written at around the turn of the first century CE. Although written before The Annals, it covers a later period, in its original form chronicling the Roman Empire from 69 to 96 CE, years which largely coincided with the Flavian dynasty of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian.
Only the first four books and a part of the fifth survive, but their short span of 69-70 CE include the turbulent Year of the Four Emperors, and the rise of Vespasian, whose command in the east occasions a digressive section on the Jewish Revolt, an event chronicled in more detail by Tacitus' contemporary Josephus.
The Histories at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy
Online Texts
Gutenberg: The Histories, translated by William Hamilton Fyfe. Multiple formats.
Internet Classics Archive: The Histories, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. HTML and TXT formats.
LacusCurtius: The Annals translated by J. Jackson - The Histories, translated by C.H. Moore. English text of public domain Loeb editions. HTML format.
Loebulus. L111 - Tacitus -- Histories I: Books 1-3. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English. Also available from the Internet Archive.
Loebulus. L249 - Tacitus -- Histories II: 4-5. Annals 1-3. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.
The Latin Library: Historiae. Latin text, HTML format.
Poetry in Translation: The Histories, translated by A.S. Kline (2016). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide: The Histories, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. Multiple formats.
Wikisource: The Histories, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (1876). Online, downloadable as PDF/MOBI/EPUB.
Wikisource: The Histories, translated by William Hamilton Fyfe (1912). Online, downloadable as PDF/MOBI/EPUB.
Other resources
BBC Radio 4 In Our Time: Tacitus and the Decadence of Rome. Melvyn Bragg with Catharine Edwards, Ellen O’Gorman and Maria Wyke.
Librivox: Tacitus' Histories - public domain audiobook.
Livius.org: Tacitus.
London Review of Books: Four Day Caesar, by Mary Beard. Review of Tacitus: Histories I edited by Cynthia Damon.
The Great conversation: further reading at Tom's Learning Notes.
Tacitus: The Annals - Although written later, covers the period preceding the Histories.
Tacitus: The Agricola.
Tacitus: The Germania.
Suetonius: The Lives of the The Twelve Caesars - part of this work covers the same period as the Annals and the Histories.
Cassius Dio: The Roman History.
Josephus: The Jewish War.
Latin Resources: Online materials for learning Latin.
Comments