Widely regarded as ancient Rome’s greatest historian, Tacitus has shaped much of early modern and modern thought on Rome and its emperors. Substantial portions of his major historical works Histories and Annals, however, have not survived, depriving us of his account of crucial episodes and developments in Rome's early imperial history. This first-of-its-kind volume seeks to fill those gaps, using a range of historical and linguistic approaches to reconstruct the missing portions of Tacitus’ work. The volume offers reconstructions of the fragmentary Tacitean emperors (Augustus, Caligula, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian) and of important lost episodes such as the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

By utilizing the concept of incompleteness as a narrative tool, Tacitus and the Incomplete provides novel insights into what Tacitus’ oeuvre might have been like if the lost books had survived, and also expands on recent work on counterfactual historiography, the influence of hindsight on historical writing, the use of prolepsis and other narrative techniques, and on the limitations of historiography in the imperial period.

About the Contributors
Introduction
Part 1. Fragmentary or Missing Portions: Reconstructing Tacitus
Kelly Shannon-Henderson, “Completing Tacitus with Fragments: The Destruction of the Jewish Temple”
Salvador Bartera, “Tacitus’ Titus”
Bram ten Berge, “Tacitus’ Domitian and Imperial (Mis)Representation”
David Potter, “Britannia in the Historiae and the Annales”
Ellen O’Gorman, “Quem ad finem memorabimus? The End of the Neronian Annals”
Part 2. Narrative Incompleteness: Purposeful and Suggestive Omission                   
Holly Haynes, “The Tragic Incomplete: Historical Thought in Tacitus’ Style”
Christopher Whitton, “Tacitus and Pliny on Vesuvius”
Victoria Pagán, “Augustus in the Annals”
Panayiotis Christoforou, “Relating at the Appropriate Time: Tacitus’ Caligula”
Coda. Early Modern Attempts at Filling the Gap
Rhiannon Ash, “Mind the Gap: Savile’s Bridge Between the End of Tacitus’ Annals and the Start of the Histories”
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index Locorum