Tacitus' more negative sceptical representations of Augustus' political career contrasted to portrayals in the Res Gestae, Velleius, Suetonius and Cassius Dio

This thesis will focus on comparing and contrasting the different representations by Tacitus, Augustus' Res Gestae, Velleius Paterculus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio about Augustus' political career. Building on extensive scholarly examination of Augustus' political attitudes and behaviours in recent centuries, this work will provide a unique comprehensive analytical discussion of Tacitus' more sceptical explicit and implicit portrayals of the characteristics of Augustus' political career, compared to and contrasted with the more positive, but sometimes ambiguous, depictions found in Augustus' Res Gestae, Velleius, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Throughout the entire study, Tacitus' portrayals of Augustus' political career will be the main focus. This will be especially evident in Chapter 2 when an extensive analysis of a number of different perspectives on Augustus' political career, found in Tacitus' Annals, will be provided. Chapters 2 to 5 will identify key components of Tacitus' own views about Augustus' political career, as distinguished from those of the Res Gestae, Velleius, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. These new comparisons and contrasts between these five different Roman authors will be achieved mostly within the context of thorough examinations of previous scholarly debates about major aspects of Augustus' political career and his associated evolving political system. Also, this study will fill in numerous gaps in previous scholarly discussion and evaluation of these same issues.