Annals (Tacitus)

Annals (Tacitus)

The Annals (Latin: Annales) by Roman historian and senator Tacitus is a history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Tiberius to that of Nero, the years AD 14-68.

The Annals provides a key source for modern understanding of the history of the Roman Empire during the first century. The Annals is Tacitus' final work, and modern historians generally consider it his greatest writing. Historian Ronald Mellor considers it "Tacitus's crowning achievement" which represents the "pinnacle of Roman historical writing".

Together Tacitus' Histories and Annals amounted to 30 books. Although some scholars differ on how to assign the books to each work, traditionally fourteen are assigned to Histories and sixteen to Annals. Of the 30 books referred to by Jerome about half have survived.

Modern scholars believe that as a Roman senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus, the Roman senate's records, thus providing a solid basis for his work. Although Tacitus refers to part of his work as "my annals", the title of the work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself, but derives from its year-by-year structure.