Marcus Claudius Tacitus

Marcus Claudius Tacitus, (c. 200 - 276 ) Roman Emperor from September 25 , 275 , to April 276 , was a native of Interamna ( Terni ) in Umbria .

In the course of his long life he discharged the duties of various civil offices, including that of Consul in 273 , with universal respect.

Six months after the assassination of Aurelian , he was chosen by the Senate to succeed him, and the choice was cordially ratified by the army. During his brief reign he set on foot some domestic reforms, and sought to revive the authority of the senate, but, after a victory over the Alans near the Palus Maeotis , he was assassinated at Tyana in Cappadocia .

Tacitus, besides being a man of immense wealth (which he bequeathed to the state) had considerable literary culture, and was proud to claim descent from the historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus , whose works he caused to be transcribed at the public expense and placed in the public libraries.

However, modern research has cast considerable suspicion on this traditional image of Tacitus as a venerable old senator. Quite the contrary, evidence (from coins, for example) indicates that Tacitus was just another military emperor, whose only distiction from other short-lived emperors of the time was his attempt to cultivate the image of a learned man.

REFERENCES

Historia Augusta , ''Vita Taciti''

.html" class="copylinks" target="_blank">English version of Historia Augusta

Eutropius , ''Breviarium ab urbe condita'', ix. 16

: English version of Breviarium ab Urbe Condita

Tacitus in ''De Imperatoribus Romanis'', giving the modern view

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Marcus Claudius Tacitus