Rise to Power

This chapter offers a reconstruction of Jovian’s rise to imperial power after Julian died in the Persian heartland. A few hours after Julian’s death, the army generals, the commanders of the legions and cavalry squadrons, as well as high civil officials assembled at the dawn of June 27, 363, to elect a successor. After the praetorian prefect Salutius had declined the emperorship and no agreement could be reached on a suitable candidate, the imperial guardsmen (protectores) put their commander (primicerius domesticorum) Jovian forward as the new emperor. He was soon accepted by the generals, high officials, and the complete army as their new ruler. Although sometimes argued otherwise, Jovian’s elevation to the throne was legitimate according to the primary sources. According to the Christian sources, Jovian initially refused to became emperor (recusatio imperii). Although Ammianus Marcellinus mentions that he was unfit for the emperorship, it is argued that Jovian’s background, his family connections (his own father Varronianus and his father-in-law Lucillianus), as well as his own military career, made him eligible for the emperorship. Nevertheless, Jovian was a compromise candidate and was made emperor not for his dynamic leadership, but in the expectation that he would work in collaboration with the senior staff (the men who had elected him) to get the army out of Persia and to lead the soldiers back to Roman territory.

Epilogue

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.

Introduction

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.

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

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.

Julian the Apostate’s religious policy and renovatio imperii morumque in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus

This article deals with Julian the Apostate’s religious policy and its relationship with the renewal of both the Roman state and the morals of Roman society during the emperor’s reign. Julian, who was a zealous follower of pagan religion, attempted to re-establish the old cultus deorum in the Christian-pagan society and to make paganism the Roman state religion. Ammianus, who witnessed Julian’s reign, shows in his Res Gestae that the emperor did his utmost to renew equally the morals of society and condition of the state. In this article the author argues that ‒ according to Ammianus ‒ Julian’s religious programme influenced neither his good moral conduct nor his secular policy. In the Res Gestae, the historian demonstrates that the imperial power as well as Julian’s virtues were sufficient means to renew the morals of society and to restore and strengthen the state, whereas religion only accompanied the emperor’s moves and did not influence them. This article was written with a view to presenting Ammianus’ standpoint on this matter as it emerges from the Res Gestae; one that may seem contrary to how some modern scholars tend to accentuate the role played by pagan religion in the secular policy of the Apostate.

Ancient and Modern World Views

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

REPUBLICAN VIRTUES AND IMPERIAL GREATNESS: THE IMAGE OF JULIAN IN CLAUDIUS MAMERTINUS’ PANEGYRIC

Our work is devoted to the analysis of Mamertinus’ ‘Panegyric’ in honor of emperor Julian. Julian’s reign provoked fierce controversy about his image and activities. His policies found both apologists from pagan historians and rhetoricians and uncompromising critics from christians. Claudius Mamertinus, who dedicated the Panegyric to Julian, occupies a special place here – he stands at the origins of the exaltation of the image of the emperor, his work was read and quoted by the next defenders of the ‘restorer of paganism’. The main theme of the panegyric was the glorification of the emperor Julian. The author of the panegyric tries to prove that Julian is not a usurper, and therefore contrasts his impeccable behavior with the vices of his predecessor Constantius. Then, determining the socio-political ideals of the future government, the author of the panegyric criticizes the Republic, where bribery and flattery towards voters were commonplace. The emperor himself is an ideal hero for him. However, even in these flattering descriptions you can find contradictions that will manifest themselves in the future: populism and attempts to please everyone and attempts to control all public affairs. One way or another, Mamertinus’ text became a model for further glorification of the image of Julian among pagan writers, most influencing between them was Ammianus Marcellinus. Julian’s image becomes more prominent: what Mamertinus perceives purely positively because of the peculiarities of the genre, Ammianus shows as good intentions, which have not always been realized.

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

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.

BEES AND VULTURES: EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS IN AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS

In his Res Gestae, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus describes the Egyptian city of Thebes and the obelisks that can be found there. There is an unusual passage in which he describes hieroglyphic writings. He goes on to show, through two examples, how hieroglyphs might seem bizarre, but in fact contain their own logic which can be explained (Amm. Marc. 17.4.10–11, translation mine): non enim ut nunc litterarum numerus praestitutus et facilis exprimit quicquid humana mens concipere potest, ita prisci quoque scriptitarunt Aegyptii, sed singulae litterae singulis nominibus seruiebant et uerbis; non numquam significabant integros sensus. cuius rei scientiam his inseram duobus exemplis. per uulturem naturae uocabulum pandunt, quia mares nullos posse inter has alites inueniri rationes memorant physicae, perque speciem apis mella conficientis indicant regem moderatori cum iucunditate aculeos quoque innasci debere his signis ostendentes. et similia plurima. For the ancient Egyptians did not write as nowadays, when a prescribed and easy series of letters expresses whatever the human mind can imagine; but individual characters served as individual nouns and verbs; and sometimes they signified whole ideas. I will show the knowledge of this with these two examples. They represent the word for ‘nature’ by a vulture, because no males can be found among these birds, as natural history records; and by the figure of the bee making honey they indicate ‘a king’, showing by these signs that in a ruler stings also ought to arise from sweetness. And there are many similar instances.