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Ammianus After Julian Mnemosyne Ammianus after Julian Mnemosyne Bibliotheca Classica Batava Monographs on Greek and Roman Language and Literature Editorial Board I.J.H de Jong H. Pinkster P.H. Schrijvers H.S. Versnel VOLUME 289 Ammianus after Julian The Reign of Valentinian and Valens in Books 26-31 of the Res Gestae Edited by J. den Boeft, J.W. Drijvers, D. den Hengst and H.C. Teitler LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN: 0169-8958 ISBN: 978 90 04 16212 9 Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................... vii Abbreviations .......................................................... ix Introduction............................................................ 1 i history and historiography Vom Tsunami von 365 zum Mimas-Orakel: Ammianus Marcellinus als Zeithistoriker und die spätgriechische Tradition.... 7 Bruno Bleckmann Der Reflex der Selbstdarstellung der valentinianischen Dynastie beiAmmianusMarcellinusunddenKirchenhistorikern ............ 33 Hartmut Leppin AmmianusonValentinian.SomeObservations ..................... 53 Hans Teitler Valentinian and the Bishops: Ammianus 30.9.5 inContext......... 71 David Hunt The Chronology of Valens’ Dealings with Persia and Armenia, 364–378CE ............................................................ 95 Noel Lenski AmmianusontheRevoltofFirmus .................................. 129 Jan Willem Drijvers ii literary composition Literary Aspects of Ammianus’ Second Digression on Rome ....... 159 Daniël den Hengst La traversée du Danube par les Goths: La subversion d’un modèle héroïque (Ammien Marcellin 31.4)........................... 181 Stéphane Ratti vi contents GreekandRomanParallelHistoryinAmmianus ................... 201 Giuseppe Zecchini The Sphragis and Closure of the Res Gestae .......................... 219 Gavin Kelly iii crisis of empire Et ne quid coturni terribilis fabulae relinquerent intemptatum… (Amm. Marc. 28.6.29). Die Göttin der Gerechtigkeit und der comes Romanus............................................................... 245 Sigrid Mratschek Crossing the Frontiers: Imperial Power in the Last Book of Ammianus ............................................................. 271 Christopher Kelly Non consolandi gratia, sed probrose monendi (Res Gestae 28.1.4). The Hazards of (Moral) Historiography ................................... 293 Jan den Boeft Contributors ........................................................... 313 IndexNominum....................................................... 315 IndexRerum........................................................... 323 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the result of an international conference held at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) from 2–5 June 2005. Our thanks go to the participants, most of whom contributed to this volume. The NIAS provided an ideal environment and wonderful hos- pitality for fruitful and lively discussions. We are grateful to the National Research School in Classics OIKOS and to the Netherlands Organisa- tion for Scientific Research (NWO) for their financial support. Thanks are also due to Mr. Jan Vonk for the final editing of this volume. November 2006 JdB,JWD,DdH,HCT ABBREVIATIONS AA Archäologischer Anzeiger AB Analecta Bollandiana AC L’Antiquité Classique AE L’Année Épigraphique AHB The Ancient History Bulletin AJAH American Journal of Ancient History AncSoc Ancient Society ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt AntTard Antiquité Tardive ASNP Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa BAGB Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé BSL Bollettino di Studi Latini ByzZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift CAH Cambridge Ancient History CLE Carmina Latina Epigraphica CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum CPh Classical Philology CQ Classical Quarterly CS Critica storica CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahr- hunderte GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies HdAW Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft HZ Historische Zeitschrift ILCV Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae IRT The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania JbAC Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum JECS Journal of Early Christian Studies JHS The Journal of Hellenic Studies JÖByz Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik JRS The Journal of Roman Studies LCM Liverpool Classical Monthly MD Materiali e Discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici MEFRA Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Section Antiquité MGH AA Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi MH Museum Helveticum OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary PG Patrologia Graeca x abbreviations PL Patrologia Latina PLRE Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire PO Patrologia Orientalis PP La Parola del Passato QC Quaderni Catanesi di Studi classici e medievali RAC Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum RE Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft REL Revue des Études Latines RFIC Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica RhM Rheinisches Museum RIC Roman Imperial Coinage RICM Recueil des Inscriptions chrétiennes de Macédoine du IIIe au VIe siècle RSA Rivista storica dell’Antichità SC Sources Chrétiennes SO Symbolae Osloenses TAPA Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae VChr Vigiliae Christianae YR The Yale Review ZAC Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik INTRODUCTION The Dutch project to write commentaries on the eighteen preserved books of Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae reached a high point with the appearance of the commentary on book 25 in the spring of 2005. Dr P. de Jonge, the founder of the project, dealt with books 14–19. In 1983, when he called it a day because of his advanced age, he was succeeded by a team of younger compatriots, at first a trio, but from 1991 a quadriga, which set to work on the middle part of the Res Gestae. The individual commentaries were published at intervals of three or four years. Book 20 appeared in 1987 and book 25, as said, in 2005. The objective of the series was and still is to comment on all aspects of Ammianus’ work, an ambition which is expressed in the title ‘Philological and Historical Commentary’. Books 20–25 are mainly concerned with Julian’s rise to supreme power, his brief reign as sole emperor, his untimely death during the ill-starred Persian campaign and finally the eight-month rule of his successor Jovian. In every book Julian is the undisputed protagonist. Although being far from uncritical towards his character and policies, and indeed here and there passing a scathing verdict on some of his decisions, the author pictures the emperor as an example of true leadership. As a clear contrast Jovian’s short period indirectly confirms this exemplary role. The last hexad of the Res Gestae deals with the reign of the Pan- nonian emperors, Valentinian and Valens, and covers a period of four- teen years, more than five times longer than the second hexad. Right at the beginning, in a succinct, but firmly worded preface the author explains that his project will take a new turn. He does not explicitly refer to Julian, but it is of course evident that his disappearance and his substitution by rulers of an entirely different type has huge conse- quences. The considerable difference in chronological scale and struc- ture in combination with the absence of an admired central figure gives books 26–31 their own distinct character. The appearance of the commentary on the final ‘Julianic’ book inspired the commentators to invite a group of international specialists in Late Antiquity to partake in a conference. A comparable conference had taken place in 1991 on the occasion of the publication of the 2 introduction commentary on book 21. The papers were published in Cognitio gestorum. The Historiographic Art of Ammianus Marcellinus. For the conference of 2–5 June 2005 at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenaar it was decided not to look back to what had been achieved in the commentary project, but to look forward to the third hexad and its description of the period after Julian. The thirteen papers in this volume are arranged in three categories: I. History and Historiography, II. Literary Composition, III. Crisis of Empire. The first category comprises six papers, the second four and the third three. Bruno Bleckmann studies the relevant evidence in late Greek and Byzantine authors and compares the tradition which is manifest in their works with the text of Ammianus. The resemblances show that the author definitely availed himself of written sources for his descrip- tion of the events of which he was an eyewitness. He may well have consulted archives and interviewed participants, but the importance of this primary material
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