The Twelve Caesars - Softcover

Gaius Suetonius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140449213 ISBN 13: 9780140449211

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1979

Synopsis

As private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, Suetonius gained access to the imperial archives and used them (along with carefully gathered eye-witness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero, and the recovery and stabilitythat came with his successors. A masterpiece of anecdote, wry observation and detailed physical description, The Twelve Caesars presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn - and all too human - individuals.

About this title

About the Author:

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was probably born in AD69 - the famous 'year of the four Emperors'. From the letters of Suetonius' close friend Pliny the Younger we learn that he practiced briefly at the bar, avoided political life, and became chief secretary to the Emperor Hadrian (AD117-38). Suetonius seems to have lived to a good age and probably died around the year AD140.

Robert Graves was born in 1895 in Wimbledon. He went from school to the First World War, where he became a captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and was seriously wounded at the Battle of the Somme. He wrote his autobiography, Goodbye to All That, in 1929, and it was soon established as a modern classic. He died on 7 December 1985 in Majorca, his home since 1929.

Synopsis:

As private secretary to the Emporer Hadrian, Suetonius gained access to the imperial archives and used them (along with carefully gathered eye-witness accounts ) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. "The Twelve Caesars" chronicles the lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero, and the recovery and stability that came with his successors. A masterpiece of anecdote, wry observation and detailed physical description, this text presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn - and all too human - individuals.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0140449213
• ISBN 13: 9780140449211
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 363