Domitian

Domitian Domitian The history of Caesars that Suetonius provides us with is one of the most important pieces of work regarding the specific Caesars he wrote about. So much so that almost all historians today refer to Suetonius when discussing one of the twelve Caesars that he covers. Although his work is very informative, it is agreed that it tends to be biased. Many historians have worked to correct his biases, but in many cases his biases can show how a majority of Romans may have felt or believed in regards to the Caesars. However, Suetonius’ personal views may have tainted his biographies slightly. This paper will attempt to compare and contrast certain aspects surrounding the life of the emperor Domitian, according to Suetonius and a modern historian and biographer, David A. Wend. One of the first statements that Wend makes is that our perceptions of the emperor Domitian come through the eyes of his enemies - he was assassinated after all. This may be one reason that contributes to Suetonius’ biases of Domitian. Right at the beginning of Suetonius’ biography of Domitian, he speaks of his birthplace and poverty-stricken childhood, and then mentions for no particular reason domitian, suetonius, wend, titus, emperor, domitian’s, about, suetonius’, julia, building, after, stories, never, isis, however, exhausted, death, work, temple, says, program, one, niece, mentions, lex, fact, explains, even, died, caesars, brother, because, time, tells, resources