Gaius Suetonius, De vita Caesarum [Lives of the Caesars]

Remy Poignault (Université de CLERMONT-FERRAND 2)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

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First circulation or publication 121

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Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

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Non-Fiction
- Biography (literary)

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The

Lives of theCaesars

establishes Suetonius literary profile as a biographer: it is possible to discern, according to Leo (1901), an influence coming from the tradition of Alexandrian biography, which favored a precise style that was devoted to men of letters, and was opposite to the character-centered biography of the Peripatetics (the philosophical biography to which Plutarch would be the heir). Matters, nonetheless, are not so clear-cut, and the third-century BC peripatetic Satyrus’

Life of Euripides

discovered since Leo’s assessment shows that Alexandrian biography did evolve in the centuries prior to Suetonius. Suetonius also borrows from the Roman tradition of funeral oration, which centered on the public activities of the deceased and his moral qualities, and likewise…

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2816 words

Citation: Poignault, Remy. "De vita Caesarum". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13471, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Gaius Suetonius, De vita Caesarum [Lives of the Caesars]

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