claudius (1 Viewer)

[snakeoils]

hey guys...

for anyone who did claudius... what texts did you find useful?

we have to study claudius on our own, without teacher assistance, as one of our assessment tasks...

 

[Harimau]

Originally posted by snakeoils
hey guys...

for anyone who did claudius... what texts did you find useful?

we have to study claudius on our own, without teacher assistance, as one of our assessment tasks...

The usual... Suetonius, Tacitus, Scullard, Salmon. Barrett and Garzetti.

 

[snakeoils]

yeah i think ive pretty much covered most of them... it was a lot of reading, believe me!

now i just have to start the actual essay: To what extent do the ancient sources adequately describe the management of the Roman Empire under Claudius.

 

[Harimau]

Originally posted by snakeoils
yeah i think ive pretty much covered most of them... it was a lot of reading, believe me!

now i just have to start the actual essay: To what extent do the ancient sources adequately describe the management of the Roman Empire under Claudius.

Woah what a hard question... I think i might do it for practice when i have time. Generally, the ancient sources had a bias agaisnt all julio claudian emperors and claudius was no exception. he was potrayed as an idiot, cripple, etc etc... Damn i think ill read some more suetonius and tacitus... Actually, there is a good book by Micheal Grant that analyses each ancient author's work. Suetonius and tacitus are included, you should use that.

 

[Sarah J]

Yeah. Talk about the biases of ancient writers. They don't "adequately describe the management of the Roman Empire under Claudius" because they tend to only look at the negative. Tacitus was largely critical of the whole Julio-Claudian line and Suetonius was mainly a gossip. Use modern sources to highlight the biases and to prove just how much the ancient written sources downplayed Claudius' rule.

Also, look at the acheaological sources. Whilst primarily propeganda, they do show that Claudius was a good leader and that the empire was well looked after.

My head hurts now from trying to remember work I did in the middle of last year. Owie!