The Twelve Caesars

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius, was a Roman historian born around AD69. His birthplace was likely Hippo Regius in Numidia, now modern-day Algeria. Suetonius hailed from a family of moderate social standing; his father, Suetonius Laetus, was a tribune of the equestrian order in Legio XIII Gemina. Suetonius received his education during a period when schools of rhetoric were thriving in Rome.

Suetonius is best remembered for his work “De Vita Caesarum” (The Life of the Caesars), a set of biographies of the first 12 Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Domitian. The work is notable for its systematic approach, detailing each ruler’s appearance, omens, family history, sayings, and narrative history.

He was a close friend of the senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny assisted Suetonius in acquiring property and obtaining the ius trium liberorum, a privilege granted to fathers of three, despite Suetonius’s childless marriage. Through Pliny, he gained favour with the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Under Trajan, Suetonius held positions related to education and the Imperial archives, and under Hadrian, he became the emperor’s secretary. However, he was later dismissed, due to an alleged affair with the empress Vibia Sabina.

Suetonius’s other works, which included writings on Rome’s daily life, politics, oratory, and biographies of literary figures, have either survived only in fragments, or are lost. His major work, often referred to as “The Twelve Caesars”, written during Hadrian’s reign, remains a crucial source for early Imperial Roman history, including the first recorded account of Julius Caesar’s epileptic seizures.

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