Agricola (book)

The Agricola (Latin: De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, lit. On the life and character of Julius Agricola) is a book by the Roman writer, Tacitus, written c. AD 98. The work recounts the life of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Governor of Britain from AD 77/78 – 83/84. It also covers the geography and ethnography of ancient Britain. The text survived in a single codex ascertained by Poggio Bracciolini to be in a German monastery (Hersfeld Abbey). It was eventually secured by the humanist Niccolò de' Niccoli. In modern times, two manuscripts of the Agricola are preserved in the Library of the Vatican. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two more manuscripts are said by Duane Reed Stuart to have been brought to light, with one being held by the Chapter Library of the Cathedral at Toledo in Spain and the other being found in 1902 in the private library of Count Balleani of Jesi, in Italy. After the assassination of Domitian in AD 96, Tacitus published the Agricola, his first work. In the first three sections of the Agricola, Tacitus discusses the nature of biographies and includes anecdotes on how previous examples have been treated (Tac. Agricola 1–3). Tacitus also comments on the state of the Roman Empire at the time of his writing of the Agricola, stating that circumstances are not conducive to living a moral life (Tac. Ag. 1). The fourth section is a summary of Agricola's heritage, which was strong according to Tacitus, his personality, and education, which Tacitus says was well rounded and extensive (Tac. Ag. 4). Tacitus then describes Agricola's military apprenticeship in Britannia, describing how Agricola was helping to deal with tumultuous times in that province, with an uprising having taken place there (Tac. Ag. 5). The subsequent sections discuss Agricola's personal life and professional career prior to his governorship in Britannia (Tac. Ag. 6–9). In what follows, Tacitus describes the geography and ethnography of Britannia, including a description of the arability of the soil (Tac.

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Related concepts (7)

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus (ˈtæsɪtəs , ˈtakɪtʊs; AD 56 – 120), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals (Latin: Annales) and the Histories (Latin: Historiae)—examine the reigns of the emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD).

Iceni

The Iceni (aɪˈsiːnaɪ , ɪˈkeːniː) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the west, and the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes to the south. In the Roman period, their capital was Venta Icenorum at modern-day Caistor St Edmund. Julius Caesar does not mention the Iceni in his account of his invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC, though they may be related to the Cenimagni, whom Caesar notes as living north of the River Thames at that time.

Anglesey

The Isle of Anglesey (ˈæŋɡəlsiː; Ynys Môn ˈənɨs ˈmoːn) is a county off the north-west coast of Wales. It is named after the island of Anglesey, which makes up 94% of its area, but also includes Holy Island (Ynys Gybi) and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.