Tacitus wrote the Annals to cover the years AD 14 through AD 68. This period spans from the death of Augustus Caesar to the end of Nero's reign. The work originally contained sixteen books, yet only parts of six survive today. Books seven through ten are entirely lost along with portions of five and twelve. The final two years of Nero's rule remain missing from history. Modern scholars believe Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus records as a Roman senator. These senate minutes provided a solid foundation for his narrative. The title Annals was not chosen by Tacitus himself but reflects the year-by-year structure he used.
Access To Senate Records
Tacitus served as a senator during the reigns of several emperors. His position granted him entry to official state documents known as Acta Senatus. He utilized these records to construct his historical account of imperial governance. The historian Ronald Mellor calls this work the pinnacle of Roman historical writing. Tacitus began writing the Annals well before AD 116 though the exact start date remains unknown. He structured the text to show how political freedom ended under the Caesars. His friend Pliny the Younger referred to Tacitus' earlier works in their correspondence. The surviving manuscripts contain about half of the original thirty books written by Tacitus. Scholars continue to debate which specific books belong to the Histories versus the Annals.Portraits Of Tyrants
The Annals presents Tiberius as a man who once held great power yet became increasingly suspicious. Tacitus portrays Nero simply as despicable compared to his predecessor. Both rulers caused fear among their subjects according to the text. The author describes the moral decay of the senatorial aristocracy under imperial rule. He viewed these senators as corrupt and servile toward the emperor. A passage notes the widespread diffusion of literary works favoring suicidal exits for illustrious men during Nero's time. Tacitus opposed those who chose useless martyrdom through vain suicides. He improved upon the style of portraiture he used in his earlier Histories. The narrative paints Tiberius progressively with observations filling in details over time.