Lives of the Later Caesars Pt. 1 : Augustan History, with Newly Compiled Lives of Nerva and Trajan

by Anonymous (Author); Briley, Anthony (Translator)

• ISBN13: 9780140443080
• ISBN10: 0140443088
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1976-06-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

One of the most controversial of all works to survive from ancient Rome, the Augustan History is our main source of information about the Roman emperors from 117 to 284 AD. Written in the late fourth century by an anonymous author, it is an enigmatic combination of truth, invention and humour. This volume contains the first half of the History, and includes biographies of every emperor from Hadrian to Heliogabalus - among them the godlike Marcus Antonius and his grotesquely corrupt son Commodus. The History contains many fictitious (but highly entertaining) anecdotes about the depravity of the emperors, as the author blends historical fact and faked documents to present our most complete - albeit unreliable - account of the later Roman Caesars.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(16)
Abbreviations	23	(2)
Chronological table of emperors	25	(2)
The Lives	27	(28)
Nerva	29	(9)
Trajan	38	(17)
The Augustan History	55	(268)
Hadrian	57	(31)
Aelius	88	(8)
Antoninus Pius	96	(12)
Marcus Antoninus	108	(30)
Verus	138	(11)
Avidius Cassius	149	(12)
Commodus Antoninus	161	(18)
Pertinax	179	(13)
Didius Julianus	192	(9)
Severus	201	(24)
Pescennius Niger	225	(12)
Clodius Albinus	237	(13)
Antoninus Caracallus	250	(11)
Antoninus Geta	261	(7)
Opilius Macrinus	268	(14)
Diadumenus Antoninus	282	(8)
Antoninus Heliogabalus	290	(27)
Genealogical tables (stemma)
A. Trajan and Hadrian	317	(1)
B. Antoninus Pius	318	(1)
C. Marcus	319	(1)
D. The children of Marcus	320	(1)
E. Lucius Verus	321	(1)
F. Septimius Severus	322	(1)
Map of Italy, showing places named in the text	323	(1)
Map of the Roman Empire, showing places named in the text	324	(2)
Index	326