Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-192
Author(s):  
Jan Willem Drijvers
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Negative Opinion

In general, historians have put too much trust in the negative opinion of Jovian’s person and reign held by Ammianus Marcellinus, Libanius, and other (pagan) writers who display an obvious nostalgia for Julian and his rule. Although Jovian died before his skills as ruler could be truly tested, it is fair to say that his eight-months rule was not only eventful, but also a promising new start for the Roman Empire after the turbulent and confusing reign of Julian. The presentation of Jovian as a new Constantine in the Jovian Narrative served the interests of Edessa in its christological conflict with Antioch and Constantinople under Justinian and is linked to a portrayal of Edessa as a pristine and ancient Christian city. In addition, the story expresses the wish for peaceful coexistence in northern Mesopotamia between Rome and Persia, as was accomplished by Jovian’s treaty with Shapur.

scholarly journals Ammianus adversas externae gentes : la geografía del Barbaricum en Amiano Marcelino

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Guzmán Armario
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Geographical Environment

Las «externae gentes», pueblos que habitaban los territorios allende las fronteras del Imperio Romano, fueron descritas, por los autores clásicos, con una serie de rasgos negativos que las definían por oposición al fiambre mediterráneo. Uno de los más importantes rasgos de los bárbaros, quizás el origen de todos los demás, es el medio geográfico en que vivían. En un historiador como Amiano l\ñarcelino, tan hostil hacia los elementos foráneos, la geografía del «Barbaricum» se revela como una elemento fundamental en sus «Res gestae».The «externae gentes», peoples that inhabited the territories beyond the frontiers of the Román Empire, were described, by the classical writters, with a serie or negativo features that defined them against the IVIediterranean man. One of the most important features of the barbarians, perhaps the source of everyone, is the geographical environment in which they lived. In an historian like Ammianus Marcellinus, so adverse towards the foreigners, the geography of the «Barbaricum» is presented as a fundamental element in his «Res gestae».

Ammianus Marcellinus and the Lies of Metrodorus

1981 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Warmington
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Arabian Nights ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Ultimate Responsibility ◽  
Persian War ◽  
Holy Man ◽  
Precious Stones

The eleventh-century Byzantine compiler Cedrenus includes a unique story in the midst of his otherwise traditional and hagiographic material on the emperor Constantine. Mentioning the outbreak of war between the Roman and Persian empires, he describes the cause of the breakdown of peace somewhat as follows. A certain Metrodorus, who was of Persian origin, went to visit the Brahmins in India to study philosophy and won the reputation of being a holy man through his asceticism. He also built water mills and baths, unknown to the Indians till that time. Having acquired this reputation, he entered the temples and took away many precious stones and pearls. He also received gifts from the king of the Indians. On his return to Byzantium he gave them to the emperor Constantine as being gifts of his own. When Constantine expressed his astonishment, Metrodorus said he had sent other gifts by the land route but that they had been detained by the Persians. Constantine then wrote a strong protest to Sapor demanding the gifts but received no reply; thus the peace was broken.This remarkable conte, more appropriate to the Arabian Nights than to sober history, is generally supposed to be referred to in a passage in Ammianus. Towards the end of a long section commenting on the personality and achievements of Julian, Ammianus turns briefly to the question of the ultimate responsibility for the Persian War which ended so disastrously for Julian and the Roman Empire:et quoniam eum obtrectatoribus novos bellorum tumultus ad perniciem rei communis insimulant concitasse, sciant docente veritate perspicue, non Iulianum sed Constantinum (MS. Constantium) ardores Parthicos succendisse, cum Metrodori mendaciis avidius acquiescit, ut dudum rettulimus plane.

Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378)

1989 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
R. Bruce Hitchner ◽  
Walter Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus

scholarly journals Libelos, camarillas y banquetes: una propuesta para reconstruir las proclamaciones militares en la Antigüedad Tardía a través de los casos de Probo, Magnencio y Juliano

Panta Rei ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 7-29
Author(s):  
Miguel Pablo Sancho Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Technical Point ◽  
Atypical Case ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
The Third ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
Literary Sources

Pese a la gran cantidad de sublevaciones militares acontecidas en el Imperio Romano, y muy especialmente en el siglo III, sabemos muy poco de cómo se preparaban y ejecutaban sobre el papel estos complots. Quitando el atípico caso de Procopio, relatado con detalle por Amiano Marcelino, las fuentes literarias, ya en muchos casos problemáticas y/o escasas, dejan bastantes lagunas en los relatos de tales procesos, que la historiografía reciente intenta suplir con hipótesis. Sin entrar a valorar las motivaciones del fenómeno o el grado de responsabilidad de los diferentes involucrados en las denominadas usurpaciones, nos planteamos ofrecer una propuesta explicativa desde el punto de vista meramente técnico, esto es, cómo un determinado grupo de conjurados logra idear, planear y ejecutar un plan o una serie de planes con el objetivo de alcanzar el poder mediante el apoyo de ciertas fuerzas militares para derrocar, casi siempre asesinando, al emperador reinante. Despite the large number of military uprisings that occurred in the Roman Empire, and especially in the Third Century, we know very little about how these conspiracies were prepared and executed on paper. Not counting the atypical case of Procopius, related in detail by Ammianus Marcellinus, the literary sources, already problematic and /or scarce in many cases, leave many gaps in the accounts of such processes, which recent historiography tries to fill with hypotheses. Without assessing the motivations of the phenomenon or the degree of responsibility of the different parties involved in the so-called usurpations, we offer an explanatory proposal from the merely technical point of view, that is, how a certain group of conspirators manages to devise, scheme and execute a plan or series of plans with the aim of attaining power through the support of certain military forces and overthrow, almost always assassinating, the reigning emperor.

CREATING THE ENEMY: AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS' DOUBLE DIGRESSION ON HUNS AND ALANS (RES GESTAE 31.2)

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIEDERIK BURGERSDIJK
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Historical Accuracy

AbstractAmmianus Marcellinus' excursus on the Huns and Alans in the thirty-first and last book of his Res Gestae, in which he creates an image of an enemy that threatens the Roman empire, mainly serves to enhance the suspense in the final part of his narrative. It contains a message to the reigning emperor to defend the borders between barbarism and civilization. The narratological motifs and ideological purposes in the portraiture of foreign peoples, which draw on older Greek as well as Latin ethnographical templates, prevail over historical accuracy. The article addresses the topic from the theoretical framework of alterity, and explores the ethnographical and geographical models on which Ammianus based his largely fictitious account.

Ancient and Modern World Views

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Ersin Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Research Context ◽  
Current State ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Key Events

This chapter brings together the few geographical surveys of Cyprus written by outsiders (i.e. non-Cypriots) during the Roman Empire. The accounts of Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy, Pausanias, Ammianus Marcellinus, and the anonymous Expositio totius mundi et gentium represent the culmination and transmission of ideas about the island based on key events, scenarios, and anecdotes. Situating the key passages within the motivations and themes of these authors’ works reveals how and why particular ideas about the island and its space came to fruition, what purpose these served, and what the perceived status and role of Cyprus in relation to Rome and to the wider Empire was. Discussion of the wider research-context study of the Roman provinces and the current ‘state of the field’ for the study of Roman Cyprus follows. In Cyprus no colonies were founded by the Romans, nor were any existing towns given colonial status; the island did not receive benefits, nor was it awarded any special status by Rome, despite being taxed. Furthermore, its inhabitants did not engage in aggressive military action to resist Roman control of the island, nor is its Roman period characterized by internal turmoil because of the Roman government, in contrast to some other provincial case studies. Therefore, this investigation draws upon a range of studies and models, utilizing vocabulary that acknowledges identity, culture, and experience as fluid, nuanced, and situational. It also emphasizes the importance of geography, geology, space, and place as active in the formation of local identity

Capital punishment at Hatra: Gods, magistrates and laws in the Roman-Parthian period

Iraq ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 139-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Kaizer
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Material Development ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
Classical Studies ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of

This paper deals with gods, magistrates and laws. It centres on one example from the Roman-Parthian period. Its title derives from five Hatrean Aramaic inscriptions which record legal statements on capital punishment at Hatra, a city in the steppe of northern Mesopotamia that came to flourish suddenly (and briefly) in the second and early third century AD. I will argue that the information in these inscriptions about the divine world, institutional aspects and legislation can contribute to our understanding of the interaction of various cultural spheres of influence at Hatra. As such, this information may throw some light on the modes in which one can study the civilization of a Near Eastern city in the Roman-Parthian period, and it may help us to understand the gap left by the archaeological record. The paper aims to locate the inscriptions in the framework of the divine world of Hatra, and it will also make suggestions as to their contribution to our understanding of processes of urbanization in the “Classical” Near East. A detailed look at this material can help us to comprehend more fully the history of the Levantine lands in the period during which the Roman imperial armies spread over the eastern provinces. In the words of Fergus Millar, it is necessary to look beyond the range of sources generally used to define the field of Classical studies, “to discern the material development of human life and settlement in the whole vast range of different areas which at one time or another came within the orbit of Graeco-Roman civilisation”.Hatra was of course brought within the power of the Roman empire only late, a few years before the Sasanian conquest in AD 240. By then — so we are told by Cassius Dio (LXVIII 31, 1–4; LXXVI 10–12) and Herodian (III 1, 2–3; 5, 1; 9, 1–7) — the city had already won renown for withstanding attacks by Trajan and (probably twice) Septimius Severus, and also by the Sasanian king Ardashir. The second Sasanian attempt, however, ended its existence as an inhabited city. When the historian Ammianus Marcellinus passed by its ruins in AD 363, on the way back from the emperor Julian's disastrous Persian campaign, he saw “an old city situated in an uninhabited area and deserted for a long time past” (25.8.5).

scholarly journals Frontier Army of the Late Roman Empire in the Mid-4th c. A.D. (Case of Isauria and the Rhine Frontier): on the Ways of Territorial Deployment of Military Units

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Evgeniy Mekhamadiev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Mountain Landscape ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Units ◽  
Late Roman ◽  
Roman Administration

Introduction. During the whole 4th c. the Late Roman frontier military units constantly took part in military campaigns against different enemies of the Empire, hovewer the author of this paper asks the question how precisely frontier military units managed their service, i.e. which functions they exercised and how they interacted to local civilian population of the province where they stood in. The author believes that a set of functions depended foremost on the location landscape. Methods and materials. The author applies the comparison approach, i.e. compares the peculiarities of two regions where the frontier armies stood: Isauria at the southeast of Asia Minor (mountain landscape) and Upper Germany at the Rhine frontier (mainly plain territory). The source accounts are “The Life of St. Conon of Isauria” (hagiography), an important inscription of Julian the Caesar (future Emperor Julian the Apostate) from Upper Germany (epigraphy) and the work of Ammianus Marcellinus “The Deeds” (Res gestae). Analysis. The author compares evidence on the military arrangement of two provinces and considers how their frontier units defended these lands from external and internal enemies, how they interacted to local population and how precisely they located in its forts. Conclusions. As a result the author concludes that the Roman administration could not place a large number of regular military units in Isauria, because this province had not enough fertile plain lands, this region suffered from the lack of food supply. The hard and cruel mountain landscape enforced to make the bands of irregular city militia – in the case of Isaurian assaults citizens formed military detachments, which were temporarily attached to regular units called vexillations. In contrast, at the Rhine frontier, where there were enough fertile flat lands, the Roman administration might place many regular units and, moreover, this region received detachments from expeditionary troops. In other words, the Roman administration had enough food supply to maintain a high number of regular frontier garrisons.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jan Willem Drijvers
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Historical Fiction ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Ammianus Marcellinus ◽  
Late Roman Period ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Military Campaign ◽  
Late Roman

The Introduction offers a survey of the primary non-Christian and Christian sources available for a reconstruction of the short reign of Jovian. The most important source obviously is Book 25 of Res Gestae of the pagan Ammianus Marcellinus. He presents a gloomy picture of the person and reign of Jovian in order to save the image of his hero and Jovian’s predecessor, Julian (the Apostate). From Edward Gibbon onward, modern scholarship has adopted this unfavorable image that presents Jovian’s reign as a meaningless period between the emperorship of Julian (361–363) and the rule of the Valentinians (364–378). However, Jovian’s rule was vital for the sustenance of imperial leadership after Julian’s disastrous Persian military campaign and religious policies, both of which caused considerable upheaval. Jovian’s reign was a return to the norms of the pre-Julianic period and brought back stability to the Roman empire. For an emperor who ruled such a short time, the Christian Jovian had an unexpected and surprising afterlife. The second part of the book discusses Jovian’s “Nachleben” in the so-called Syriac Julian Romance, a text of historical fiction that has rarely been studied and is largely unknown to historians of the late Roman period.

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