Since the 18th century, at least five attempts have been made to challenge the authenticity of the Annals as having been written by someone other than Tacitus, Voltaire's criticism being perhaps the first.[7] Voltaire was generally critical of Tacitus and said that Tacitus did not comply with the standards for providing a historical background to civilization.[8] In 1878, John Wilson Ross and, in 1890, Polydore Hochart suggested that the whole of the Annals had been forged by the Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459).[9][10][11] According to Robert Van Voorst this was an "extreme hypothesis" which never gained a following among modern scholars.[11]
The provenance of the manuscripts containing the Annals goes back to the Renaissance. While Bracciolini had discovered three minor works at Hersfeld Abbey in Germany in 1425, Zanobi da Strada (who died in 1361) had probably earlier discovered Annals 11–16 at Monte Cassino where he lived for some time.[6][12] The copies of Annals at Monte Cassino were probably moved to Florence by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), a friend of da Strada, who is also credited with their discovery at Monte Cassino.[12][13][14] Regardless of whether the Monte Cassino manuscripts were moved to Florence by Boccaccio or da Strada, Boccaccio made use of the Annals when he wrote Commento di Dante c. 1374 (before the birth of Poggio Bracciolini), giving an account of Seneca's death directly based on the Tacitean account in Annals book 15.[15][16] Francis Newton states that it is likely that Annals 11–16 were in Monte Cassino during the first half of the rule of Abbot Desiderius (1058–1087) who later became Pope Victor III.[17] Annals 1–6 were then independently discovered at Corvey Abbey in Germany in 1508 by Giovanni Angelo Arcimboldi, afterwards Archbishop of Milan, and were first published in Rome in 1515 by Beroaldus, by order of Pope Leo X, who afterwards deposited the manuscript in the Medicean Library in Florence.[6]
Content
| Books[18] | Subjects |
|---|---|
| 1 | Death and funeral of Augustus; accession of Tiberius. Drusus and the mutiny of the Pannonian legions. Germanicus and the mutiny of the German legions. |
| 2 | War in Germania continued. Libo Drusus, Piso, and Asinius Gallus oppose Tiberius. Tacfarinas's revolt. Germanicus is posted to Asia Minor, followed by his death. |
| 3 | Germanicus' funeral. Domestic politics and legal matters of Rome. Beginning of the Gallic Wars. Tacfarinas's revolt continued. Rise of Sejanus who poisons Drusus. |
| 4 | Tacfarinas' revolt ends. Fall of Sejanus. War in Thrace. Agrippina makes moves. Tiberius abandons the capital for Campania. Fire on the Coelian Hill in Rome. Condemnation of Titius Sabinus. |
| 5 | Death of Empress Livia (book incomplete). |
| 6 | Parthian War. Fire on the Aventine Hill in Rome. Death of Tiberius. |
| 11 | Claudius becomes emperor. Prosecutions of Suillius. Turmoil in Armenia. Corbulo settles a Frisian revolt. Senatorial rights extended to the provinces. Execution of Messalina. |
| 12 | Claudius remarries, and adopts Nero. Adjustments with Parthia. The pomerium enlarged. Invasion of Britain continues with a campaign against Caratacus. Disorders in Armenia. Draining of Fucine Lake. Death of Claudius. |
| 13 | Nero becomes emperor; the murder of Britannicus. Continued trouble with Parthia over Armenia. Rome meets disaster in Armenia, saved by Corbulo. Wars with and among Germans continue. |
| 14 | Nero murders his mother Agrippina. Neronia founded. Corbulo betters the course of Rome in Armenia. In Britain, the Icenian revolt under Boudicca. Criminal trials and political purges in Rome. Murder of Rubellius Plautus and Octavia. |
| 15 | Roman defeat in Armenia, although "spun" as a victory; followed, however, by a further adjustment with Parthia in which the Parthian king Tiridates travels to Rome to become a nominal vassal of Rome. The Great Fire of Rome. Pisonian conspiracy fails. |
| 16 | Nero plots against Stoicists. Paetus and Soranus are murdered. |
