Suetonius's Life of the Deified Titus, in the J. C. Rolfe translation from the Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1914, is a primary source in translation. Its strength is that it is the actual ancient biography, a contemporary Roman writer's account of Titus's character, his popularity, the completion of the Colosseum under his reign, and his death. Its limit is the ordinary one for any Roman imperial biographer of this period: Suetonius wrote decades after his subject's reign, drew on court gossip alongside official record, and his portraits reflect his own literary and moral interests as much as documented fact.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Suetonius's short biography of Titus (Divus Titus), a primary source for his character, popularity, the completion of the Colosseum, and his death. Read here in the Loeb Classical Library's scholarly critical translation, the same series and publisher already carrying this corpus's tier one primary texts such as Plutarch's Moralia, so it sits at tier one alongside them rather than at tier two. NotesSuetonius's short biography of Titus (Divus Titus), a primary source for his character, popularity, the completion of the Colosseum, and his death.
Citation
AuthorSuetonius (trans. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library)
PublisherHarvard University Press
Publication Year1914
Source TypePrimary text in translation
Claims Backed By This Source (8 claims)
This source backs 8 claims across the atlas. As facts: 7 well-attested. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Historical Figures, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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