Full Name: Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Known AS: Tacitus
Nickname: Don't have a Nickname

Father Name: Cornelius Tacitus
Mother Name: Unknown
Wife: (dau. of Agricola, m. 77 AD)

Date of Birth: ca 56 AD
Birth Place: Gaul (now France), a Roman province

Date of Death: ca 117 AD
Death Place: Roman province
Cause of Death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Education: Rhetoric (under Quintilian)
Occupation: Historian
Nationality: Ancient Rome

Major Interest: History, Biography, Oratory.

Influenced: Giambattista Vico, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Thomas Hobbes, Niccolò Machiavelli.

Major Writings: De Vita Julii Agricolae (98 AD, biography); De Origine et situ Germanorum (98 AD, history, "Germania"); Historiae; Cornelii Tacti ab Excessu Divi Augusti (history, "Annals").

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was in ca 56 AD into a provincial aristocratic family in Gaul (modern France) or nearby, in the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. Little is known for certain about Tacitus. He studied rhetoric under Quintilian. Pliny the Younger was his life-long friend. He also served as a legionary officer. In AD 77 he married the daughter of Agricola. From 80 to 81 AD, he worked under Titus (Roman emperor) as a tribune. In 82 AD, Tacitus was quaestor. Then he was admitted to the Senate.

In 88 AD, he worked as a praetor. Between 89 and 93, he must have commanded a legion or governed a province. In 97 AD, he was appointed consul along with Pliny the Younger. In 98 AD, Tacitus wrote On the Origin and Country of the Germans (AD 98) and On the Life of Julius Agricola (AD 98). In 99 AD, he joined forces with Pliny the Younger. Then he wrote Dialogue on Orators (c. AD 105) and Histories (c. AD 106). His most famous book is Annals of Imperial Rome, a history of the Roman Empire from Augustus to Nero. Publius Cornelius Tacitus died in AD 117 in the Roman province.