Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1930. / On cover: University of Pennsylvania. Includes bibliographical references (p. [11]-14).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1890.

Esta dissertação apresenta versão para o vernáculo do texto latino de Germania, obra trazida a lume em 98 d. C. pelo historiador Tácito e que compõe o conjunto das opera minora desse autor. Tal tradução é acompanhada do texto em latim e de notas para justificar determinada opção de versão, ante outras possibilidades de leitura da mesma palavra/passagem. A seguir, são tecidos comentários sobre a composição genérica de Germania, verificando as características que permitem inseri-la na tradição etnográfica e periegética e o contato com outros gêneros literários, mas também sobre a debatida questão da interpretação dessa obra única na literatura romana. / This dissertation presents a version in Portuguese of the Latin text of Germania, which was brought out in 98 a. D. by the historian Tacitus and integrates the opera minora of that author. This translation is accompanied by the Latin text and notes that justify such version option in face of other readings of the same word/passage. Next, commentaries about the generical composition of Germania are made, verifying the caracteristics that allow insert it in the ethnographic and periegetic tradition and the contact with other literary genders, but also about the debated question of the interpretation of this unique work in the Roman literature.

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Thesis (MA (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / The term vir bonus as a comprehensive concept is nowhere precisely defined, yet the Romans clearly understood its meaning. To give substance to it, the role that the good Roman or vir bonus was expected to play in the Roman Republic, was examined. By his extensive descriptions of the evils of the Empire, Tacitus confirms this concept by emphasizing the absence of these exemplary qualities. The development of Rome from city state to Monarchy to Republic is steeped in legend. The foundation of the Roman constitution was believed to have been laid during that period, and adjusted to prevent the recurrence of a monarchy. This system of government was closely structured and demanded a high moral standard from its participants. While Roman territory was limited, this constitution functioned well. However, when after the Punic Wars Rome became master of almost the whole area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, it was impracticable. A long and often bloody strife followed between the advocates of change and those who would not accept it. Augustus won out and established an Empire, calling it by the euphemistic term of Principate. His successors automatically acceded to their powers as emperor. During the Empire the political structures of the Republic were disempowered and the moral fibre of the ruling classes perverted. It is this process that Tacitus examines critically. He does so by describing how different people reacted under different circumstances. Some behaviour he roundly condemns, but often he makes us realise that the participants did not have much leeway, and that this consequently affected their behaviour .

Tacitus and Sima Qian (ca. 140-85 BC, author of the Shiji, the Records of the Historian) are eminent representatives of Roman and ancient Chinese historiography. The starting-point of the paper is a striking parallel between the two historians: During the reign of autocratic emperors (of the last of the Flavian emperors, Domitian, and of the most powerful of the Han-emperors Wudi) both authors undergo experiences which not only affect them on a personal level, but also influence their historiographie practice. The paper traces this influence with respect to the representations of individual historical characters. On the one hand it analyses the representations of rulers: of Tiberius, adoptive son and successor of Augustus, and of Wendi, natural son and (indirect) successor of Gaodi, the founder of the Han-dynasty; on the other hand it studies the representations of second and third rank characters such as senators, ministers, generals, and - in the case of Sima Qian - also of people from other walks of life. The similarities which can be observed between the two authors point to the existence of certain anthropological constants, whereas the differences are to be attributed to basic differences in Roman and Chinese political thinking and to differing degrees of the intensity of the experiences undergone by each historian.

Zugl.: Diss.

Ziel der Arbeit war es, im Vergleich zu anderen literarischen Stadtbildern und dem materiellen Rom der mittleren Kaiserzeit das spezifisch taciteische Rombild herauszuarbeiten, das im Kontext der trajanischen Zeit im Zuge einer spezifischen Vergangenheits- und somit Erinnerungskonstruktion ein subjektives Romerlebnis widerspiegelt, welches exemplarisch ein wichtiges Zeugnis des damaligen Werte- und Normensystems darstellt. Dabei wurde konkret der Frage nachgegangen, wie die Stadt Rom, ihre urbanen Räume und Einzeltopographien in den beiden historiographischen Texten des Tacitus wahrgenommen, dargestellt, semantisiert und schließlich funktionalisiert werden. In beiden historiographischen Werken des Tacitus erscheint die Stadt Rom kaum als monumentaler physischer Raum („Anschauungsraum“). In diesem Sinne erscheint das Bild der Stadt sehr selektiv. In zentralen Passagen der Historien nimmt die Stadt Rom und ihre zentralen Räume, darunter vor allem das Forum Romanum, das Kapitol und der Palatin, einen zentralen Stellenwert mit memoralisierender Funktion ein. Besonders auffallend an diesen Passagen ist zudem der Umgang mit früheren Narrativen (v. a. Livius), indem alte Raumsemantiken zu etwas Neuem transformiert werden. Hierdurch entstehen neue literarische monumenta, die den Leser nicht nur an die schreckenerregenden Ereignisse des Bürgerkriegs aus dem Jahr 69 n. Chr. erinnern, sondern zugleich eine mahnende und somit didaktische Funktion aufweisen. In den Annalen erscheinen die Stadt Rom und ihre urbanen Räume weniger explizit. Erst in den Claudius- und Nerobüchern nehmen die topographischen Bezüge zu, wobei verstärkt das urbs-capta-Motiv zum Vorschein kommt. Die Stadt erscheint als „Aktionsraum“, in dem der moralische Niedergang seinen Höhepunkt erreicht. Die Stadt der Kaiserzeit wird zu einer „Heterotopie“ transformiert, die Tacitus dem Rom der Frühzeit entgegensetzt. / The aim of this project was to elucidate the specific Tacitean representation of the urbs Roma in comparison to other literary representations and the material Rome of the Tacitean age which as part of a specific construction of past and memory reflects a subjective “Romerlebnis” that exemplifies important aspects of former values and norms. In particular, the investigation focused on how Tacitus perceives, presents, connotes and functionalizes the city, its urban spaces and topographies. In both historiographical works of Tacitus, the city of Rome appears hardly as a monumental and physical space (“Anschauungsraum”). The image of the urbs appears therefore extremely selective. In pivotal passages of the Histories, Rome and its central urban spaces, most notably the Forum Romanum, the Capitol and the Palatine, form a central part in the narrative with a highly memorializing function. In these passages it is especially striking, how Tacitus reacts to former narratives (esp. Livy) by transforming their semantics of space into something new. In doing so, he creates new literary monumenta that do not only remind the reader of the horrible events of Civil war from 69 AD, likewise they act as reminder since they also imply didactic and moralizing effects. In the extant texts of the Annals, the city of Rome and its urban spaces appear less explicitly, and less dramatically than in the extant texts of the Histories. Whereas in the Tiberian narrative, the city – as the emperor – does not seem to be present at all, topographical references increase in the Claudian and especially in the Neronian narrative in which the urbs-capta motive becomes particularly obvious. The city appears as an “Aktionsraum“, a space of action, in which moral decline reaches its peak. Rome is transformed into a “Heterotopie“, that Tacitus contrasts with the idealized Rome from the early period.

I examine how religion is presented in the Annals of Tacitus, and how it resonates with and adds complexity to the larger themes of the historian’s narrative. Memory is essential to understanding the place of religion in the narrative, for Tacitus constructs a picture of a Rome with ‘religious amnesia.’ The Annals are populated with characters, both emperors and their subjects, who fail to maintain the traditional religious practices of their forebears by neglecting prodigies and omens, committing impious murders, and even participating in the destruction of Rome’s sacred buildings. Alongside this forgetfulness of traditional religious practice runs the construction of a new memory – that of the deified Augustus – which leads to the veneration of living emperors in terms appropriate to gods. This religious narrative resonates with and illuminates Tacitean observations on the nature of power in imperial Rome. Furthermore, tracing the prominence of religious memory in the text improves our understanding of how Tacitus thinks about the past, and particularly how he thinks about the role of the historian in shaping memory for his readers. I consider various religious categories and their function in Tacitus’ writings, and how his characters interact with them: calendars (do Tacitus’ Romans preserve or change the traditional scheduling of festivals?), architecture (what determines the building of or alterations to temples and other religious monuments?), liturgy (do they worship in the same ways their ancestors did?), and images (how do they treat cult statues?). I analyze the patterns of behaviour, both in terms of ritual practice and in how Tacitus’ characters think about and interpret the supernatural, and consider how Rome’s religious past features in these patterns. The thesis is structured according to the reigns of individual emperors. Four chapters chart Tiberius’ accession, Germanicus’ death, its aftermath, and Sejanus’ rise to power; one chapter examines the religious antiquarian Claudius; and the final chapter analyzes Nero’s impieties and their consequences.

Analisa-se na primeira parte desta tese a estrutura de composição do Historiarum Liber, obra de maturidade em que Tácito se propõe a relatar a história romana a partir do conturbado ano 69 d.C., o chamado ano dos quatro imperadores. Por meio de requintes na composição narrativa, em que se utiliza de toda uma gama de artifícios retóricos, o autor traça um vasto painel daquilo que considerou execrável nos romanos, bem como daquilo que procurou exaltar como boa forma de governo. Detém-se nos aspectos históricos do ano 69 e apoia-se nos aspectos literários para narrar a época pós-Nero, momento em que o poder se divide entre o senado e o exército. Dessa maneira, do que chegou a nós, o Historiarum liber propõe reflexão acerca das formas de governar, já apontando uma decadência daquilo que Tácito julgava como a força do Império. Na segunda parte, apresenta-se o texto estabelecido por Henri Goelzer para a editora Les Belles Lettres, com nossa tradução a latere, acrescida de notas de cunho gramatical, histórico e literário. / We analyze in the first part of this thesis the structure of composition of the Historiarum Liber, a work of maturity in which Tacitus intends to report the Roman history considering the agitated year of 69 d. C., the so called year of four emperors. Through strategies of refinement in the narrative composition, in which he uses a variety of rhetorical sources, the author pictures an ample frame of those things he considered abominable in Romans, as well as of those things which he tried to exalt as a good form of government. We dwell on the historical aspects of the year 69 and consider the literary aspects so as to narrate the post-Nero age, a moment in which the power is divided between the senate and the army. This way, taking into account what survived in history, the Historiarum liber proposes a meditation on the strategies of government, while pointing to the decadence of that which Tacitus judged as the strength of the empire. In the second part, we present the text established by Henri Goelzer for the French editor Les Belles Lettres, with our translation a latere, added by notes of grammatical, historical and literary nature.