The Twelve Caesars
by Suetonius, Alexander Thomson · first published 1957
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Lively, gossipy biographies of the first twelve Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, written close in time to their subjects. It offers a fun read and a good window into how Rome was understood.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I wanted to provide a little near-contenporary source material to back up this answer which ought to be read by everyone. From Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars: "The violent death of Caligula [the previous emperor] afforded the Romans a fresh opportunity to have asserted the liberty of their country; but the conspirators had concerted no plan, by which they…
on “U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation” ↗Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars is the origin of much of what we now consider roman (caveat: I'm not an expert at all), it's a good read if you're interested.
on “Naumachia” ↗…they didn't have stake in modern society and politics. As long as you pay notice to fact that they are mostly recording either hearsay, or propaganda, you should be fine. In that course I would recommend Twelve Caesars by Suetonius (hearsay) and Commentarii de Bello Gallico by Caesar (propaganda). It's not always true, but it gives you a good idea of how they were thinking, what was their morality like and their values.
on “The Life of a Lawyer in the Late Roman Republic” ↗Go back to Suetonius and The Twelve Caesars. Amazing read, even if you can't believe everything. The contemporary (or close) historians are lots of fun.
on “In the Ruins of Edward Gibbon's Masterpiece” ↗Twelve Caesars (De vita Caesarum) by Suetonius is a fun read!
on “How to be a Roman emperor” ↗I too enjoyed that book tremendously. If you haven't read it yet, you should definitely read The Twelve Caesars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Caesars
on “How Stoical Was Seneca? (2014)” ↗There are no mentions of Trump in the first two paragraphs. In the first, the author likens Suetonius, author of "The Twelve Caesars", to Michael Wolff, author of a book about a Trump WH scandal and intrigue. In the second, he references Mar-a-Lago. If these comparisons to the present "detract" from the "interest" of the article…
on “Caligula’s Garden of Delights, Unearthed and Restored” ↗…so bored with listening and applauding that they furtively dropped down from the wall at the rear, since the gates were kept barred, or shammed dead and were carried away for burial." - Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars
on “Ruins of Emperor Nero’s Theater Discovered Near Vatican” ↗…by horses away from the Roman soldiers, until they were far enough they could resume shooting arrows. The battle is well-known, but the detail I'd like to call attention to is that in Suetonius's "The Twelve Caesars" (IIRC) it says when the soldiers figured out the heavy rain of arrows would never stop, the soldiers ordered Crassus to surrender. Screaming at him and threatening him! So that's what he ended up having…
on “US DOE to offer $6B to keep struggling nuclear reactors online” ↗…Tacitus before I was twenty (Penguin classics, might have been excerpts). I don't remember them well, but I remember Suetonius better. What I have read elsewhere is that the family violence of the first twelve caesars was really very restrited, and they otherwise governed reasonably well. There might be exceptions (Caligula) but there were enough in the twelve that were reasonable rulers despite personal perversions.…
on “Thrones Wreathed in Shadow: Tacitus and the psychology of authoritarianism” ↗