The Twelve Caesars
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As private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors. A masterpiece of observation, anecdote and detailed physical description, The Twelve Caesars presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn – and all too human – individuals.
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A book about the lives of the first emperors of Rome, plus Julius Caesar. Written by Suetonious, a historian who, at the time, had access to Emperor Hadrian's library.
It has been framed as a historical book and some other times just like a gossip account about the emperors.
Suetonius describes their most famous achievements, some disgraceful actions, and even how they look physically. Though the very first characters get more time, I guess mainly because he was not Hadrian's personal secretary anymore before finishing the book, or because there was not much interest in the later ones, or maybe it's just that they did not do much in Suetonius's eyes. For instance, Julius Caesar and Augustus will get more ink pages than Vespasian, Titus and Domitian combined.
A good accompanying material for this book is listening to the first 30–40 episodes of the podcast Emperors of Rome by La Trobe University, roughly up until episode XL or so, where they talk about Emperor Domitian. In this podcast, Rhiannon Evans talks in detail about other significant events during this period of Roman history, including commentaries on not only Suetonious work but also Livi, Tacitus, etc.
