Editing Tacitus (emperor)

{{short description|Roman emperor from 275 to 276}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = EmpereurTacite.jpg
| image_size   =
| alt          = Bust of the Emperor Tacitus
| caption      = Bust in the [[Louvre]]
| succession   = [[Roman emperor]]
| reign        = {{circa}} December 275 – {{circa}} June 276
| predecessor  = [[Aurelian]]
| successor    = [[Florianus]]
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = June 276
| death_place  = [[Tyana|Antoniana Colonia Tyana]], [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]]
| burial_place = 
| issue        = 
| regnal name  = Imperator Caesar Marcus Claudius Tacitus Augustus
| full name    = Marcus Claudius Tacitus<ref name="Jones, pg. 873">Jones, pg. 873</ref>
}}
'''Marcus Claudius Tacitus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|æ|s|ɪ|t|ə|s}} {{respell|TAS|it|əs}}; died June 276) was [[Roman emperor]] from 275 to 276. During his short reign he campaigned against the [[Goths]] and the [[Heruli]], for which he received the title ''Gothicus Maximus''.

==Early life==
[[File:Tacitus Ant.jpg|right|thumb|[[Antoninianus]] of Tacitus. Legend: IMPerator

Caesar Marcus CLavdius TACITVS AVGustus.]]
His early life is largely unknown. An origin story circulated after his coronation claimed Tacitus to be the heir of an old [[Umbria]]n family and one of the wealthiest men of the empire, with a total wealth of 280 million sestertii. His faction distributed copies of the historian [[Publius Cornelius Tacitus]]' work, which was barely read at the time, perhaps contributing to its partial survival. Modern historiography rejects his alleged descent from the historian as a fabrication.<ref>McMahon, [http://www.roman-emperors.org/tacitus.htm#N_3_ Note 3] and accompanying text</ref>{{sfn|Leadbetter|2010|p=86}} It is more likely that he emerged from the [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] military, which made him a representative of the army in imperial politics.<ref name="Hagi336">{{harvnb|Hagi|2016|p=336}}</ref>

In the course of his long life he held various civil offices, including the [[Roman consul|consulship]] twice, once under [[Publius Licinius Valerianus|Valerian]] and again in 273, earning universal respect.<ref>Edward Gibbon, ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', (The Modern Library, 1932), ch. XII., p. 276</ref>

==Emperor==
After the assassination of [[Aurelian]], the army, apparently showing remorse towards its role in the death of the beloved emperor, relinquished the right of choosing his successor to the [[Roman Senate|Senate]].<ref>Gibbon, pp. 274–278</ref> After a few weeks, the throne was offered to the aged ''Princeps Senatus'', Tacitus.

According to the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'', Tacitus, after ascertaining the sincerity of the Senate's regard for him, accepted their nomination on 25 September 275,<ref>Historia Augusta, ''Vita Taciti'', 3.2.</ref> and the choice was cordially ratified by the army.<ref name="Jones, pg. 873"/> If true, Tacitus would have been the last emperor elected by the Senate.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lee Fratantuono|title=Tacitus Annals XVI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3DM6DwAAQBAJ&dq=Tacitus+last+emperor+elected+senate++275&pg=PA4|year=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-3500-2351-2|page=4}}</ref> However, it's possible that much of this narrative is fictitious, as [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] and [[Zonaras]] report that Tacitus was actually proclaimed by the army without any intervention of the Senate.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/romanemperorsbio0000gran/page/188|title=The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 BC–AD 476|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1985|isbn=0-684-18388-9|place=New York|pages=188–189|author-link=Michael Grant (classicist)}}</ref> His proclamation as emperor should have happened in late November or early December.<ref>{{cite book|last=Watson|first=A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ukf-lEYl3FUC&pg=PA225|title=Aurelian and the Third Century|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-07248-4|location=London|page=225}}</ref>

In older historiography, it was generally accepted that Aurelian's wife, [[Ulpia Severina]], ruled in her own right before the election of Tacitus which could indicate an interregnum which lasted as long as six months.<ref name="watson">{{cite book | last =Watson | first =Alaric| title =Aurelian and the Third Century | publisher =Routledge| year =1999 | location = London| isbn = 0-415-07248-4}}</ref><ref name="re">{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.roman-emperors.org/aurelian.htm|title= Aurelian (A.D. 270–275)|last1= Körner|first1= Christian|date= December 23, 2008 |encyclopedia= De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families|access-date=January 6, 2011}}</ref> Contemporary bibliography considers that no interregnum may have existed between Aurelian's death and the coronation of the new Emperor. Tacitus had been living in [[Campania]] before his election, and returned only reluctantly to the assembly of the Senate in Rome, where he was elected. He immediately asked the Senators to deify Aurelian, before arresting and executing Aurelian's murderers.<ref name="Southern, pg. 127">Southern, p. 127</ref> In ancient sources, he was described as very old at that time, but in reality he was possibly in his fifties.<ref name="Hagi336" />

Amongst the highest concerns of the new reign was the restoration of the ancient Senatorial powers. He granted substantial prerogatives to the [[Roman Senate|Senate]], securing to them by law the appointment of the emperor, of the consuls, and the provincial governors, as well as supreme right of appeal from every court in the empire in its judicial function, and the direction of certain branches of the revenue in its long-abeyant administrative capacity.<ref>Gibbon, p. 279</ref> [[Probus (emperor)|Probus]] respected these changes, but after the reforms of [[Diocletian]] in the succeeding decades not a vestige would be left of them.

===Fighting barbarians===
Next he moved against the barbarian mercenaries that had been gathered by Aurelian to supplement Roman forces for his Eastern campaign.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} These mercenaries had plundered several towns in the Eastern Roman provinces after Aurelian had been murdered and the campaign cancelled.<ref>Gibbon, p. 280</ref> His half-brother, the Praetorian Prefect [[Florian (emperor)|Florian]], and Tacitus himself won a victory against these tribes, among which were the [[Heruli]], gaining the emperor the title ''Gothicus Maximus''.<ref name="Southern, pg. 127"/>

===Death===
On his way back to the west to deal with a [[Franks|Frankish]] and [[Alamanni]]c invasion of [[Roman Gaul|Gaul]], according to [[Aurelius Victor]], [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]] and the [[Historia Augusta]], Tacitus died of fever at [[Tyana]] in [[Cappadocia]] around June 276, after a rule of just over 6 months.<ref>Aurelius Victor, 36:1</ref><ref>Historia Augusta, ''Vita Taciti'', 13:5</ref> In a contrary account, [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] claims he was assassinated, after appointing one of his relatives to an important command in [[Roman Syria|Syria]].<ref>Zosimus, I:63:2</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==

===Ancient sources===
* [[Historia Augusta]], ''Vita Taciti'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Tacitus*.html English translation]
* [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], ''Breviarium ab urbe condita'', ix. 16, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20031222152525/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/eutropius/trans9.html#16 English translation]}}
* [[Aurelius Victor]],'' "Epitome de Caesaribus"'', [http://www.roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm English translation]
* [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], ''"Historia Nova"'', [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus01_book1.htm English translation]
* [[Joannes Zonaras]], Compendium of History [https://web.archive.org/web/20080521191250/http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Post/1049415 extract: Zonaras: Alexander Severus to Diocletian: 222–284]

===Secondary sources===
* [http://www.roman-emperors.org/tacitus.htm  McMahon, Robin, "Tacitus (275–276 A.D)", ''De Imperatoribus Romanis'']
* {{cite book |last=Jones |year=1971 |first=A.H.M. |author2=J.R. Martindale |author3=J. Morris |title=The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire Volume 1: A.D. 260–395 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-07233-6 |url={{googlebooks|uOHw4idqAeYC|plainurl=y}} |name-list-style=amp |author-link=A. H. M. Jones |author-link2=John Robert Martindale |author-link3=John Morris (historian) |ref={{sfnref|Jones|Martindale|Morris}} }}
*{{cite book |last=Leadbetter |year=2010 |first=Bill |title=Galerius and the Will of Diocletian |publisher=Routledge |place=London |isbn=978-0-415-40488-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBBjy7l-NWQC&pg=PT86}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Hagi |editor1-first=David |title=Coinage and History of the Roman Empire |date=2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135971250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIEYDQAAQBAJ}}
* Southern, Pat. ''The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine'', Routledge, 2001 {{ISBN?}}
*Gibbon, Edward ''[[Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'' (1888)
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Tacitus, Marcus Claudius}}

== Further reading ==
{{Commons|Marcus Claudius Tacitus}}
*[[Constantine P. Cavafy]], ''The Complete Poems'', Harcourt, Brace & World (1961), p.&nbsp;201
*[[Alan Dugan]], ''Poems 2'', Yale University Press (1963), p.&nbsp;33

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[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:276 deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman emperors]]
[[Category:3rd-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:Illyrian people]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman consuls]]
[[Category:Crisis of the Third Century]]
[[Category:Claudii]]
[[Category:Murdered Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Gothicus Maximus]]