Reliability points Roman

Question 1

Suetonius

Answer 1

Positive
- Secretary to Emperor Hadrian - access to imperial archives
- Working off Augustus’ memoirs and correspondence and earlier historians
- Equestrian
Negatives
- Personal anecdotes about characters and personality of the emperors (subjective)
- Based on court gossip
- When not mentioning names - less reliable

Question 2

Cassius Dio

Answer 2

Positive
- Only full length account of Augustus’ reign which survives
- Useful for administrative and constitutional organisation of the empire
Negative
- Greek with a positive view of Roman history
- Imposes greek way of thinking on the text
- No mention of sources, narrative style
- Written 200y after Augustus
- Senatorial point of view

Question 3

Tacitus

Answer 3

Positive
- Contemporary writer
- Sources were senate’s records, emperors’ speeches, Pliny the Younger
- Even sometimes quotes his sources (other historians)
- sine ire et sine studio
Negative
- Upper class
- Writing to expose evils of the principate under the Judio Claudians (republican sympathy)
- Damning asides, inneundo and rumour etc. - bias against it

Question 4

Velleius Paterculus

Answer 4

Positive
- Contemporary source for Augustus
- balance to anti-principate
Negative
- Conventional patriotism and bias towards official points of view
- Senatorial POV

Question 5

Seneca

Answer 5

Bitter as exiled by Caligula?
Moral texts so inbuilt agenda

Question 6

Macrobius

Answer 6

Collection of stories from 5th century - unreliable anecdotes