Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. AD 56 - after 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works-the Annals and the Histories-examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the years of the First Jewish-Roman War in AD 70. There are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long.
