Why did Roman Historian Tacitus Praise the Enemy and Criticise the Roman Empire?
The story with the Roman Emperor Domitian and the historian’s cynicism
Publius Cornelius Tacitus’ works (56 AD — 120 AD) are considered crucial sources for the Roman Empire and generally the influence of the Romans in the world of the late 1st century. Despite being Roman and playing a role not only in the historical but also in the political stage of the empire, it’s clear that some of his cynical and biased views influence his writing and the reliability of his works. The most important example is the writing of Germania (98 AD) which comes from the depiction of the empire in Agricola (98 AD), during the controversial reign of emperor Domitian (81 AD — 96 AD).
Regardless of the Roman view for “Germans” being “barbarian” enemies of the empire and an obstacle to the expansion, Tacitus presents a contradictory view through the appraisal of the German society and the criticism of Domitian and consequently, the whole empire of his time. This essay provides the substantiated evidence from the writers’ sources which present the aspects of living in Germania which were praised by Tacitus, their connection and their contradiction with the values of the Roman society and the reason why Tacitus’ need to criticize his own home country under…
