MASSOLIT: Tacitus: Agricola - Introduction

This is the first lecture in a five-part MASSOLIT course on Tacitus' Agricola, delivered by Dr Andy Fear (University of Manchester). The video provides a broad introduction to the Agricola, situating the work as both historical narrative and biography and explaining its aims and structure.

The lecture is part of MASSOLIT's series of high-quality, curriculum-linked video lectures produced for GCSE, A Level and IB students. The lecture examines the Agricola's purpose of preserving Agricola's reputation, its combination of biography, history, ethnography and military narrative, and Agricola's portrayal as an exemplary governor, soldier and public servant.

It also discusses the political background of Domitian's tyranny and Tacitus' argument about virtue and dignified conduct under oppression. The session is intended for secondary-school students studying classical texts or British/ancient history and for teachers seeking curriculum-linked materials.