Tacitus and Tyranny
ABSTRACT
This conference examined the process of rising tyranny in first century AD Rome, as presented in the Annals and Agricola of Tacitus. These works are important for the insights they offer on how tyranny can replace republican institutions, how tyrants manipulate the language and institutions of liberty to their own ends, and how the ruling elite accommodates or resists despotism.
READING LIST
Conference Readings
Brunt, P. A. and J. M. Moore, eds. Res Gestae Divi Augusti: The Achievements of the Divine Augustus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Tacitus. The Annals. Translated by A.J. Woodman. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2004.
Tacitus. The Agricola and the Germania [revised edition]. Translated by H. Mattingly, translation revised by S. A. Handford. London: Penguin Classics, 1970.