Rating: 7.8/10.
Fairly short book containing two minor works by Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived in the first century AD. The two works, Agricola and Germania, were written around the same time but on two different topics.
Agricola describes the career of the author’s father-in-law, Julius Agricola, a general who conquered Britain and served as its governor until his retirement. The book describes how the native Britons fought valiantly to repel the invading Roman force, but were ultimately defeated by Agricola’s army. Tacitus’s writing is light on specific details of Agricola’s campaign, there’s bit about Britain’s geography and the people there, but the main focus is painting a picture of his father-in-law’s heroic deeds.
Germania is an ethnography describing the Germanic people living to the north of the Roman Empire. Although Tacitus himself never travelled to Germania, The two countries shared a border so the Romans were familiar with the Germanic people. He gives a lot of details about all aspects of Germanic life, such as their ways of fighting, religious beliefs, clothing, political structure, festivals, etc, and while they are not 100% accurate, many of the details have been verified with archaeological evidence. There’s also a lot of details about the tribes and place names, so it is useful to follow with a map while reading (although the map in my version of the book is hard to read). It is interesting to read about the Romans’ view of their enemies, which was overall surprisingly positive and respectful.
