Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius, was a Roman historian and biographer of the early imperial period. He lived in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE and is best remembered for his biographical work on the Roman emperors.

Suetonius probably belonged to the equestrian order and served as secretary (amanuensis) to Emperor Hadrian. In that role he gained access to imperial archives and court gossip, which informed his literary output. He is believed to have written his major biographies during or after Hadrian’s reign, and his works circulated in the Latin language of his time.

His principal surviving work is De vita Caesarum, commonly titled The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. This collection presents concise biographies of Julius Caesar through Domitian, arranged chronologically by ruler. The Lives combine political narrative with vivid, sometimes intimate details about appearance, habits, private life, and morality, alongside public deeds. Suetonius also produced other biographical and thematic writings, including De viris illustribus, a series on notable men in literature and history.

Scholars regard Suetonius as a crucial source for Roman imperial history and for the social world of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian eras. However, his reliance on gossip, rumors, and various sources of varying reliability means modern scholars approach his testimony with caution and corroboration from other evidence. His work influenced later biographers and shaped the genre of imperial biography, contributing to the perception of the emperors as performers of public and private lives.