Ammianus after Julian

Ammianus after Julian
Author: Jan den Boeft
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2007-08-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9047421515

In Books 26–31 Ammianus Marcellinus deals with the period of the emperors Valentinian and Valens. The representatives of the new dynasty differ greatly from their predecessor Julian, both personally and in their style of government. The Empire is divided between the two rulers, and suffers increasingly from barbarian invasions. Faced with these changes, Ammianus adapts his historical method. His treatment of the events becomes less detailed and more critical. The years following on the death of Julian are painted in dark colours, as the disaster at Hadrianople casts its shadow before. The papers in this volume, on History and Historiography, Literary Composition and Crisis of Empire, were presented during the conference "Ammianus after Julian" held in 2005.

Ammianus' Julian

Ammianus' Julian
Author: Alan James Ross
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198784953

Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae holds a prominent position in modern studies of the emperor Julian as the fullest extant narrative of the reign of the last "pagan" emperor. Ammianus' Julian: Narrative and Genre in the Res Gestae offers a major reinterpretation of the work, which is one of the main narrative sources for the political history of the later Roman Empire, and argues for a re-examination of Ammianus' agenda and methods in narrating the reign of Julian. Building on recent developments in the application of literary approaches and critical theories to historical texts, Ammianus' presentation of Julian is evaluated by considering the Res Gestae within three interrelated contexts: as a work of Latin historiography, which consciously sets itself within a classical and classicizing generic tradition; in a more immediate literary and political context, as the final contribution by a member of an "eyewitness" generation to a quarter century of intense debate over Julian's legacy by several authors who had lived through his reign and had been in varying degrees of proximity to Julian himself; and as a narrative text, in which narratorial authority is closely associated with the persona of the narrator, both as an external narrating agent and an occasional participant in the events he relates. This is complemented by a literary survey and a re-analysis of Ammianus' depiction of several key moments in Julian's reign, such as his appointment as Caesar, the battle of Strasbourg in 357 AD, his acclamation as Augustus, and the disastrous invasion of Persia in 363 AD. It suggests that the Res Gestae presents a Latin-speaking, western audience with an idiosyncratic and "Romanized" depiction of the philhellene emperor and that, consciously exploiting his position as a Greek writing in Latin and as a contemporary of Julian, Ammianus wished his work to be considered a culminating and definitive account of the man and his life.

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus
Author: Gavin Kelly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2008-04-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521842999

Examines the work of Ammianus Marcellinus, who has often been underestimated as a writer while lauded as an historian. This book portrays him as a subtler writer and more manipulative and partial historian, using allusion to the classical past to insinuate different meanings.

The Later Roman Empire

The Later Roman Empire
Author: Ammianus Marcellinus
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2004-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0141921501

Ammianus Marcellinus was the last great Roman historian, and his writings rank alongside those of Livy and Tacitus. The Later Roman Empire chronicles a period of twenty-five years during Marcellinus' own lifetime, covering the reigns of Constantius, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I, and Valens, and providing eyewitness accounts of significant military events including the Battle of Strasbourg and the Goth's Revolt. Portraying a time of rapid and dramatic change, Marcellinus describes an Empire exhausted by excessive taxation, corruption, the financial ruin of the middle classes and the progressive decline in the morale of the army. In this magisterial depiction of the closing decades of the Roman Empire, we can see the seeds of events that were to lead to the fall of the city, just twenty years after Marcellinus' death.

Ammianus Marcellinus and the Representation of Historical Reality

Ammianus Marcellinus and the Representation of Historical Reality
Author: Timothy David Barnes
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801435263

This is the first book on Ammianus to place equal emphasis on the literary and historical aspects of his writing. Barnes assesses Ammianus' depiction of historical reality by simultaneously investigating both the historical accuracy and the literary qualities of the Res Gestae. He examines its structure and arrangement, emphasizes its Greek, pagan, and polemical features, and points out the extent to which Ammianus drew on his imagination in shaping the narrative.

The Late Roman World and Its Historian

The Late Roman World and Its Historian
Author: Jan Willem Drijvers
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134631782

Ammianus Marcellinus, Greek by birth but writing in Latin c. AD 390, was the last great Roman historian. His writings are an indispensable basis for our knowledge of the late Roman world. This book represents a collection of papers analysing Ammianus's writings from a variety of perspective, including Ammianus as historian of, and participant in, Julian's Persian campaign, his identification with traditional religious attitudes and values in Rome and his view of the Persian Magi. The contributors engage especially with the concept of self-identification. They address the tension of Ammianus' dual role as both 'outside' external narrator and at the same time and 'insider' to the contemporary experiences and events which make up his surviving history.

The Roman History

The Roman History
Author: Ammianus Marcellinus
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2017-02-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781543093674

The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus; Translated by C. D. Yonge. Ammianus Marcellinus (325/330-after 391) was a fourth-century Roman soldier and historian. History during the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens. Of Ammianus Marcellinus, the writer of the following History, we know very little more than what can be collected from that portion of it which remains to us. From that source we learn that he was a native of Antioch, and a soldier; being one of the prefectores domestici-the body-guard of the emperor, into which none but men of noble birth were admitted. He was on the staff of Ursicinus, whom he attended in several of his expeditions; and he bore a share in the campaigns which Julian made against the Persians. After that time he never mentions himself, and we are ignorant when he quitted the service and retired to Rome, in which city he composed his History. We know not when he was born, or when he died, except that from one or two incidental passages in his work it is plain that he lived nearly to the end of the fourth century: and it is even uncertain whether he was a Christian or a Pagan; though the general belief is, that he adhered to the religion of the ancient Romans, without, however, permitting it to lead him even to speak disrespectfully of Christians or Christianity. His History, which he divided into thirty-one books (of which the first thirteen are lost, while the text of those which remain is in some places imperfect), began with the accession of Nerva, A.D. 96, where Tacitus and Suetonius end, and was continued to the death of Valens, A.D. 378, a period of 282 years.

Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius

Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius
Author: R. Malcolm Errington
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2007-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 080787745X

The division of the late Roman Empire into two theoretically cooperating parts by the brothers Valentinian and Valens in 364 deeply influenced many aspects of government in each of the divisions. Although the imperial policies during this well-documented and formative period are generally understood to have been driven by the religious and ideological aims of the emperors, R. Malcolm Errington argues that the emperors were actually much more pragmatic in their decision making than has previously been assumed. The division of responsibilities between the emperors inevitably encouraged separate developments and allowed locally varying and often changing imperial attitudes toward different forms of religious belief. Errington demonstrates that the main stimulus for action in this period nearly always came from below the level of the imperial government, and not from an imperial initiative. Extending the theory of Fergus Millar into the later empire, Errington argues that the emperors were fundamentally reactive to regionally supplied information, as Millar has asserted was the case for the High Empire. Thus, despite significant structural changes, the empire remained broadly traditional in its operations.

Emperor and Author

Emperor and Author
Author: Nicholas J. Baker-Brian
Publisher: Classical Press of Wales
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1910589144

This volume offers the first comprehensive analysis in English of all the writings of Julian (r. AD 361-363), the last pagan emperor of Rome, noted for his frontal and self-conscious challenge to Christianity. The book also contains treatments of Julian's laws, inscriptions, coinage, as well as his artistic programme. Across nineteen papers, international specialists in the field of Late Antique Studies offer original interpretations of an extraordinary figure: emperor and philosopher, soldier and accomplished writer. Julian, his life and writings, are here considered as parts of the tumult in politics, culture and religion during the Fourth Century AD. New light is shed on Julian's distinctive literary style and imperial agenda. The volume also includes an up-to-date, consolidated bibliography.