M on the properties of Ocean surrounding the world (3.5), and by both on the navig-
able route between the Arabian Gulf and Gade ̄s (Mela 3.9; Pliny 2.169). Neither Mela nor
Pliny give a book title.
KP 4.62–63, G. Wirth; BNP 9 (2006) 659–660 (#2), U. Eigler; OCD3 396, A.J.S. Spawforth.
GLIM
Cornelius Tacitus (98 – ca 120 CE)
Born ca 55 – 58 CE in southern Gaul, Tacitus married the daughter of Cn. Iulius Agricola ca
76 CE, was praetor in 88, consul 97, and proconsul 112/113; he died early in Hadrian’s reign.
His first work, Agricola, and his second, Germania, were published in 98 CE, the mostly lost
Histories (composed by ca 110 CE) covered Roman history from 69 CE, and the Annales
(composed after the Histories) covered Tiberius to Nero (although Caligula’s reign and the
first half of Claudius’ are lost); Tacitus also wrote a dialogue on oratory dedicated to Fabius
Iustus, consul 102 CE.
Tacitus’ geography in the Agricola, the Germania, and the Histories is always ancillary to
ethnography. The Agricola, a laudatory biography of his father-in-law, narrates Agricola’s
governorship of Britain and conquests there. Tacitus’ excursus (Agr. 10–12) on the people
of Britain includes geographical notes on the surrounding sea (following P
M and recent observations), on the land and climate, and sites the island between
Ocean, Germany, Gaul, and Spain (following C, BG 5.13). Paradoxa about peculiar
pearls and the odd behavior of sun and sea serve to emphasize Britain’s extreme position
and nature. The Germania is an ethnographic monograph (drawing on P,
Caesar, P, and others) that includes geographical notes, on the site of “Germany”
bordered by Ocean, two great rivers, and mountains (§1), and on the cold and wet character
of the land which lacks metals (§5). The second half forms a kind of perie ̄ge ̄sis (28–46),
concluding again with a pair of paradoxa, the same odd behavior of sea and sun (45.1),
and the genre-bending nature of amber (45.5). The Histories reflect I and peri-
ploi, and offer one extant ethnographic excursus, on the Jews (5.2–7). Their dry but fertile
land is sited and sketched, and the odd behavior of its chief paradoxon, the Dead Sea,
is portrayed, with its genre-bending product, bitumen (5.6), and the dead plain whose sole
product is glass-makers’ sand (5.7).
Tacitus’ works were rediscovered in the 15th c., and in the 16th–20th cc. the Germania
deeply influenced German nationalism and ethnic exceptionalism, whereas the Annales and
Histories informed modern thought on tyranny.
Ed.: R.M. Ogilvie and I. Richmond, Cornelii Taciti de Vita Agricolae (1967); A.A. Lund, P. Cornelius Tacitus
Germania (1988); R. Oniga, Opera omnia: Tacito 2 vv. (2003).
DLB 211 (1999) 306–313, R. Mellor; J.B. Rives, Tacitus Germania (1999); NP 11.1209–1214 (#1),
E. Flaig; R.S. Bloch, “Geography without territory,” in J.U. Kalms, ed., Internationales Josephus-
Kolloquium (2000) 38–54; K. Clarke, “An Island Nation,” JRS 91 (2001) 94–112; F. Mittenhuber,
“Die Naturphänomene des hohen Nordens,” MH 60 (2003) 44–59; A.G. Pomeroy, “Center and
Periphery in Tacitus’ Histories,” Arethusa 36 (2003) 361–374.
PTK
CORNELIUS TACITUS