Roman historiography

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Roman historiography is indebted to the Greeks, who invented the form. The Romans had
great models to base their works upon, such as Herodotus (c. 484 425 BCE) and
Thucydides (c. 460 c. 395 BCE). Roman historiographical forms are different from the
Greek ones however, and voice very Roman concerns. Unlike the Greeks, Roman
historiography did not start out with an oral historical tradition. The Roman style of history
was based on the way that the Annals of the Pontifex Maximus, or the Annales Maximi, were
recorded. The Annales Maximi include a wide array of information, including religious
documents, names of consuls, deaths of priests, and various disasters throughout history. Also
part of the Annales Maximi are the White Tablets, or the Tabulae Albatae, which consist of
information on the origin of the republic.

Contents

1 History of Roman historiography

o 1.1 The foundation of Roman historiography
o 1.2 The annalistic tradition
o 1.3 The monographic tradition
o 1.4 Factionalized history
o 1.5 Overview

2 Characteristics

3 Major extant historians

o 3.1 Caesar
o 3.2 Livy
o 3.3 Sallust
o 3.4 Tacitus
o 3.5 Suetonius

4 Other major historians

5 See also

6 References and sources

History of Roman historiography

The foundation of Roman historiography
The most well-known originator of Roman historiography was Quintus Fabius Pictor, also
known as the Founder of Historiography. Before the second Punic war, there was no
historiography in Rome, but after, it was needed to commemorate this important occasion. Q.
Fabius Pictor took up the task and wrote a history of Rome in Greek, not Latin. This choice
of writing about the war in Greek arose from a need to address the Greeks and counter
another author, Timaeus, who also wrote a history of Rome until the Second Punic War.
Timaeus wrote with a negative view of Rome. Therefore, in defense of the Roman state, Q.
Fabius Pictor wrote in Greek, using Olympiad dating and a Hellenistic style. Q. Fabius
Pictors style of writing history defending the Roman state and its actions, and using
propaganda heavily, eventually became a defining characteristic of Roman historiography.
Q. Fabius Pictor is known for the establishment of the ab urbe condita tradition of
historiography which is writing history from the founding of the city. After Q. Fabius Pictor
wrote, many other authors followed his lead, inspired by the new literary form: Lucius
Cincius Alimentus, Gaius Acilius (c. 141 BC), Aulus Postumius Albinus (c. 151 BC), and
Cato the Elder (c. 168 BC). Cato the Elder is credited as the first historian to write in Latin.
His work, the Origines, was written to teach Romans what it means to be Roman. Like Q.
Fabius Pictor, Cato the Elder wrote ab urbe condita, and the early history is filled with
legends illustrating Roman virtues. The Origines also spoke of how not only Rome, but the
other Italian towns were venerable, and that the Romans were indeed superior to the Greeks.
The Romans enjoyed serious endeavors and so the writing of historiography became very
popular for upper class citizens who wanted to spend their time on worthwhile, virtuous,
Roman activities. As leisure time was looked down upon by the Romans, writing history
became an acceptable way to spend retirement.
Almost as soon as historiography started being used by the Romans, it split into two
traditions: the annalistic tradition and the monographic tradition.

The annalistic tradition

The authors who used the Annalistic tradition wrote histories year-by-year, from the
beginning, which was most frequently from the founding of the city, usually up until the time
that they were living in.
Some annalistic authors:

Gnaeus Gellius (c. 140 BC) wrote his history from Aeneas until 146 BC.

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (c. 133 BC) wrote trying to figure out why the Roman
society had begun to decline. His history chronicled Rome from the foundation until
154 BC, when he believed that the society had hit its lowest point.

Publius Mucius Scaevola (c. 133 BC) wrote a history from the foundation of the city
in 80 books.

Sempronius Asellio (c. 100 BC) wrote a history from the Punic Wars until c. 100 BC.

Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius wrote that all Roman wars are just, and that the Senate
and all Roman dealings were honorable, in annalistic form.