The Complete Works of Tacitus, is kind of a misnomer as not all of his works are complete. That said this book has all that there is left and known to the world at large of his works and they are very informative.
I started reading the book because I had always heard he had mentioned Christ in his history. Indeed he does, but I also found the book to be enlightening on scripture in other ways. Here you have a secular historian recounting everything that is happening in the empire during that time that the New Testament is taking place and being formed. You get insights into the scripture that way that you otherwise might not get. Such as when Tacitus praises Germanicus for being a man of one woman and not having illegitimate children, This sheds light on how that term was used and what it meant, a term that is used twice by Paul in listing the qualifications for a pastor. You find that there was actually quite a bit of turmoil surrounding the "pax Romana" and considerable political intrigue.
One becomes a bit more familiar with the life of Nero. For instance you come to realize that killing his own mother was probably one of the more admirable things he did.
His work on Germania is considerably enlightening. I found myself liking that ancient culture almost as much as Tacitus admired them.
Tacitus, though, did not merely write a history, but a political treatise complete with notes on leadership and what makes for good leadership and bad leadership. I also enjoyed the use of vocabulary that stretched me to use a dictionary and look up terms.
I do wish though that the book made better use of hyper-linking to notes and footnotes.
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G. Sanders
It does have a hypertexed table of contents!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2022
Barry from Fareham
Insightful reference
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2012