3 ms·

I haven’t read Dio but Tacitus struck me as quite sober. He didn’t mix in myth the way Livy did (Romulus and Remus in a history?).

• 0xbadcafebee 5y ago
  I haven't dug into it much, but isn't Tacitus also one of three sources about Caligula? Could it not be that a lot of the reputation of the Julio-Claudians was exaggerated well after nobody could or would defend them?
  • rkk3 5y ago
    Easy to underestimate the historians incentive to blame the previous regime & to paint their patrons ancestors in good light.
  • rsynnott 5y ago
    The more fantastical Caligula stuff also generally isn't taken seriously these days.
• p_j_w 5y ago
  The best propagandist makes it a little believable, right?