Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius)

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Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius)

Circa 70-After 122 c.e.

Historian, administrator

Sources

Poor Etiquette. Suetonius was born in Hippo Regius in North Africa. He went the usual course of education in Rome, followed by legal practice. The younger Pliny supported him, helped him buy a small farm near Rome, and pushed for giving him a favorable tax status. After 114 C.E., Suetonius received official, imperial administrative jobs under Trajan. From around 99 to 122 C.E., Suetonius composed his major work, De vita Caesarum (On the Life of the Caesars). In 121 he was dismissed for not having observed the proper etiquette concerning the empress. He died some time after 122 C.E.

Sources

Barry Baldwin, Suetonius (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1983).

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).

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