The Late Roman World and Its Historian

Download or read book The Late Roman World and Its Historian written by Jan Willem Drijvers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.