"In the history of early Imperial Rome, the figure of Tacitus looms large. A senator under Domitian and consul under Domitian's shortlived successor, Nerva, Tacitus wrote the only surviving narrative history of the early years of the Roman Principate from Tiberius to Nero: the Annals. The detailed chronological approach of the Annals means that Tacitus' ideas about the Principate and the characters of the first century in Rome have shaped how we see them. Within Tacitus' narrative, Germanicus is perhaps the most important character. He is first mentioned in the third paragraph of the Annals and gets his first glowing praise in the seventh, where he is ‘backed by so many legions, the vast reserves of the provinces and a wonderful popularity with the nation'.
Germanicus was the adopted son of the emperor Tiberius, who was forced to adopt him as one of the conditions of his own adoption by Augustus and to guarantee his own ascension to the Roman throne. These adoptions both occurred as part of what might be called a ‘succession package' that Augustus put together in AD 4, a package that included Germanicus' marriage to Augustus' granddaughter Agrippina the Elder and marked him out as Augustus' planned successor to Tiberius. Germanicus never fulfilled Augustus' aim for him because, as with so many of Augustus' chosen successors, he died of a mysterious illness in AD 19, while on a diplomatic mission to Syria. Tiberius was roundly accused of using a proxy to poison him out of jealousy.
Despite his early death, Germanicus bookends the Annals and echoes of him run throughout the text. The Annals begin with Tiberius ascending to the Principate and the immediate outbreaks of mutiny in both Pannonia (central Europe) and Germany. The troops in the latter were led by Germanicus and, says Tacitus, they hoped that Germanicus would rise up with them, ‘sweep the world' and take the throne from Tiberius. Much to their dismay, Germanicus remained steadfastly loyal to his adoptive father. The Annals end 50 years after Germanicus' death, with the final days of his grandson's reign and the simultaneous revolts of the armies in northern France and Spain. In a clear contrast to Germanicus' behaviour, in these revolts the generals actively marched on Rome to kill the emperor and take the throne. Tacitus gives his readers a clear sign of the decline of the times…"
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