The Historians of Late Antiquity Read Online Free PDF

head west. Ammianus writes with satirical anger about the expulsion of foreigners from Rome during a food crisis (14.6.19). If he was among those expelled, he would have had to be in the city by 383 or 384 at the latest.
    At Rome, Ammianus probably collected information about Valentinian’s campaigns on the Rhine, events in Rome itself, and affairs in North Africa. His complaints directed against a few senators, whom he accused of being unworthy of their proud heritage, have often led modern scholars to imagine him as bitter and alone. Such an analysis misinterprets the satirical persona which the historian has created in these passages and ignores the non-senatorial circles in which Ammianus probably traveled (Cameron 1964; Matthews 1989: 465–6). He integrated the new information he gathered into the work up to around 390. This suggests that Ammianus gave public readings from his work in 390 or 391, in time for details to reach Libanius in the east within a year. No further notices of his life or work remain.

Work
    The extant text of the Res Gestae stretches from book 14 to book 31. The first books were lost at an early stage in the transmission of the manuscript. Book 14 begins in 353 and describes the last year of the life of the Caesar Gallus. Books 15 and 16 describe the rise of Julian as Caesar and his successful campaigning in Gaul, despite the attempts of the emperor Constantius II to obstruct his nephew. Books 17 and 18 alternate between Julian’s military success in Gaul and Constantius’ failure in the east. Book 19 is largely devoted to the siege of Amida by the Persian king Shapur, which ends in Roman defeat.
    In book 20, Julian is pronounced Augustus by his troops, and Constantius refuses to recognize his claim of equality. In book 21, the two armies begin their march and prepare for war, but Constantius dies of illness in October 361. In book 22, Julian, now sole ruler of the empire, continues east to Constantinople and Antioch, distributing patronage and establishing his position. He withdraws state support from Christianity and flaunts his paganism. At the end of book 22, Julian prepares for a major invasion of Persia, the subject of books 23 and 24. In book 25 the emperor is killed and the army manages its hasty retreat under the leadership of the newly chosen emperor Jovian, who is forced to sign an unfavorable peace treaty with Shapur. The book ends with the death of Jovian from smoke inhalation in 364.
    Book 26 begins with a preface that suggests that Ammianus is now moving up to “the boundaries of our own time.” The book covers the selection of Valentinian as emperor, his selection of his brother Valens as co-emperor, and Valens’ suppression of the revolt of Procopius, a cousin of Julian. Book 27 describes the military activities of Valentinian in the west and Valens in the east. Book 28 treats western events in Rome, Britain, and North Africa, particularly cases of unfair prosecutions and corruption, and book 29 begins with parallel events in the east, where Valens oversaw a number of trials for treason and magic. The narrative then turns back to the west to treat the campaigns of Valentinian and the successful suppression of the African rebel Firmus by the general Theodosius, the father of the future emperor. Book 30 begins with eastern affairs as Valens and Shapur vie for control of Armenia. The scene shifts west, to the successful campaigning of Valentinian, who then dies of a stroke in 375. His son is elevated to the throne, despite his youth (he is 4 years old). Finally, book 31 is an almost continual narrative of how the admission of a group of Goths into the Roman empire turned into a disaster, culminating in the Battle of Adrianople and the death of Valens in 378.
    We know from the last sentence of the Res Gestae that the work began with the accession of Nerva in 96. The extant eighteen books cover the period from 353 to 378, for an average of less than a year and a half for each