Annals (Tacitus) - Authenticity

Authenticity

Since the 18th century at least five attempts have been made to challenge the authenticity of the Annals, Voltaire's criticism being perhaps the first. Voltaire was generally critical of Tacitus and said that Tacitus did not comply with the standards for providing a historical background to civilization.

In 1890 Polydore Hochart published De L'Authenticité Des Annales Et Des Histoires de Tacite which specifically argued that the whole of Annals had been forged by Italian author Poggio Bracciolini who lived 1380-1459. While Bracciolini had discovered three minor works at Hersfeld Abbey in Germany in 1425, Zanobi da Strada (who died in 1361) had likely earlier discovered Annals 11-16 at Monte Cassino where he lived for some time. The copies of Annals at Monte Cassino were likely moved to Florence by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375), a friend of da Strada, who is also credited with their discovery at Monte Cassino. Regardless of whether the Monte Cassino manuscripts were moved to Florence by Boccaccio or dal Strada, Boccaccio made use of the Annals when he wrote Commento di Dante c. 1374 (before the birth of Poggio Bracciolini), giving an account of Seneca's death directly based on the Tacitean account in Annals book 15.

Francis Newton states that it is likely that Annals 11-16 were in Monte Cassino during the first half of the rule of Abbot Desiderius (1058 - 1087) who later became Pope Victor III. André Vauchez confirms that statement. Annals 1-6 were then independently discovered at Corvey Abbey in Germany in 1508 and were first published in Rome in 1515.

Towards the end of the 19th century, author John Wilson Ross also presented arguments that Bracciolini had forged the Annals. According to Robert Van Voorst this was an "extreme hypothesis" which never gained a following among modern scholars. Ronald Mellor has since stated that the Annals is "Tacitus's crowning achievement" which represents the "pinnacle of Roman historical writing".