ABSTRACT
There is a change in the nature of our available source material from the reign of Vespasian onwards. For the narrative history of the period we have to rely on the fragments of Dio preserved in Byzantine epitomes (see p. 4) and it is frequently difficult to date events mentioned. Tacitus does write about the period but his observations are contained in the Agricola and the Dialogus, neither of which pretend to provide narrative histories of the period. Our other main guide is Suetonius, but the biographies of the Flavians are less detailed than those of earlier emperors. As a result, though we can perceive at least some of the more general developments, it is almost impossible to produce a detailed narrative of events during these years.
