Peter Jones
Annus Horribilis
69 AD: The Year of the Four Emperors
By Gwyn Morgan
Oxford University Press 288pp £17.99 order from our bookshop
As Tom Holland’s Rubicon and Persian Fire thrillingly demonstrate, the most enjoyable history tells a story, and the Roman historian and politician Tacitus (c AD 56–120), who in his time served as both consul and provincial governor, had no better material with which to start his Histories than the dramatic events that unfolded during the year AD 69, which saw three changes of emperor as various claimants battled it out to succeed the wretched Nero.
The rebellion against Nero was started in March AD 68 by the governor of Transalpine Gaul, Vindex, and although it was put down, others had been encouraged to try their luck, including Galba in Spain in concert with Otho in Lusitania (roughly Portugal). The Senate opted for Galba, and Nero
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Nourished on a diet of exceptionalism and meritocracy, millennials internalised the harmful falsehood that hard work necessarily yields success. The very least they should settle for is a "cool job", one that ... is the focus of their "passion".'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/workers-twerkers
'There is a difference between a doctor who writes medical treatises and a doctor who writes absurdist fiction. Do we want our heart surgeon to be an anti-realist?'
Joanna Kavenna peruses Iain Bamforth's 'Scattered Limbs: A Medical Dreambook'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/trust-me-philosopher
How did Uwe Johnson, the German writer who was friends with Hannah Arendt and Max Frisch, end up living out his days in the town of Sheerness, Kent?
https://literaryreview.co.uk/estuary-german