Edward Gibbon called The Histories an 'immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest observations and the most lively images.' Its author, Cornelius Tacitus, widely acknowledged as the greatest of all Roman historians, describes with cynical power the murderous 'Year of the Four Emperors' - AD 69 - when in just a few months the whole of the Roman Empire was torn apart by civil war.

The ultimate triumph of Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian was only the prelude to further conflicts and disasters, with revolts among the Germans and Jews challenging the very foundations of Roman authority.