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Defining a Roman Identity in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus: the Dialogue Between ‘Roman’ and ‘Foreign’

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Defining a Roman Identity in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus: the Dialogue Between ‘Roman’ and ‘Foreign’ Defining a Roman Identity in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus: the dialogue between ‘Roman’ and ‘foreign’ A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2018 Guy A. J. Williams School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Defining a Roman Identity Contents List of abbreviations ....................................................................................... 5 List of tables ................................................................................................... 7 Abstract .......................................................................................................... 8 Declaration ..................................................................................................... 9 Copyright statement ...................................................................................... 9 A note on Ammianus’ text ........................................................................... 10 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 11 The author .................................................................................................... 12 Introduction ................................................................................................. 13 0.1 Ammianus Marcellinus and Roman identity .......................................... 13 0.2 The ‘foreign’/ ‘outsider’ perspective ................................................. 17 0.3 A new type of Roman ......................................................................... 26 0.4 Scholarship on Roman identity in the 4th century and earlier ........... 31 0.5 Ammianus and the definition of Roman identity .............................. 40 Chapter One ................................................................................................. 46 1.1.1 The army and ethnicity: furthering identity integration ..................... 46 1.1.2 The making of a Roman soldier: defining the ‘imagined community’ .................................................................................................................. 48 1.2.1 Ethnicity in the army ....................................................................... 56 1.2.2 Silvanus and the Franks in the West (15.5) ................................. 62 1.2.3 The Gauls in the East (19.6) ........................................................ 70 1.3 Explaining the imagined community as an integrative tool .............. 85 1.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 93 Chapter Two ................................................................................................. 94 2.1.1 The Romans, Rome, and their place in the Roman identity ............... 94 2 Defining a Roman Identity 2.1.2 The city of Rome as the monumental heart of the Roman community (16.10) ................................................................................... 95 2.2.1 The moral Digressions (14.6; 28.4) and the place of ‘foreigners’ in the Roman identity ................................................................................ 114 2.2.2 Rome as ethnographical subject ............................................... 115 2.2.3 Transferring Romanness from the ‘Romans’ to the ‘foreigners’ ............................................................................................................ 125 2.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 132 Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 134 3.1.1 The Emperor and Roman identity ..................................................... 134 3.1.2 The purpose of ceremony ............................................................. 135 3.2.1 An emperor’s majesty and a Roman audience ............................. 138 3.2.2 Constantius’ adventus and the maintenance of identity .......... 144 3.3.1 The civilis princeps model as outdated for the contemporary empire .................................................................................................... 159 3.3.2 Beyond the civilis princeps ........................................................ 166 3.3.3 The usurper Procopius as a failed emperor (26.6) ................... 174 3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 177 Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 178 4.1.1 Book 31: Huns, Goths, and Romans as a conclusion to Ammianus’ identity model ............................................................................................ 178 4.2.1 Polarities deconstructed: a blurring of Goth and Roman ............. 179 4.2.2 Roman barbarism in the final book as an identity argument ... 181 4.2.3 Goths and the potential for Romanness ................................... 188 4.3.1 Polarities constructed: creating the ultimate ‘other’ as a means of defining Roman identity ......................................................................... 201 4.3.2 Biological ‘othering’: policing the boundaries of Roman identity ............................................................................................................ 203 3 Defining a Roman Identity 4.3.3 The Huns’ extra-terrestrial origins as a comment on Roman belonging and a case of identity boundary marking ......................... 213 4.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 231 5.1 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 232 Bibliography of works cited ........................................................................ 237 Word count: 79981 4 Defining a Roman Identity List of abbreviations All abbreviations of names of authors and works follow S. Hornblower, Α. Spawforth and Ε. Eidinow eds. (2012) The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. AE L'Année Épigraphique (1888-). CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (online). ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, 3 vols. H. Dessau ed. (1892- 1916) Berlin. OCD3 S. Hornblower, Α. Spawforth eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, rev. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. PG Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1857-66). PLRE I A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris. (1971) The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: A.D. 260-395, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIC VIII J. P. Kent (1981) The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. VIII: The Family of Constantine I, AD 337-364. London: Spink and Son. All texts and translations are taken from the latest Loeb editions. Exceptions are listed below: Aristid. Aristides Or. Aelius Aristides, Orationes, W. Orations Dindorf ed. (1829) Leipzig. English: C. A. Behr (1981-86) Aelius Aristides. The Complete Works, 2 vols. Leiden. Aur. Vict. Aurelius Victor de Caes. Sexti Aurelii Victoris Liber de On the Caesars Caesaribus: praecedunt, Origo gentis romanae et Liber de viris illustribus urbis Romae, subsequitur Epitome de Caesaribus, F. R. Pichlmayr (1961) Leipzig. English: Liber de Caesaribus Sextus Aurelius Victor, H. W Bird (1994). Liverpool. CTh. CTh. Theodosiani libri XVI, cum Theodosian Code Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae ad Theodosianum Pertinentes, Theodor Mommsen and Paul M. Meyer eds. (1905), 2 vols. Berlin. Eunap. Eunapius Eunap. R. C. Blockley (1981-1983) The 5 Defining a Roman Identity History Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus, and Malchus, 3 vols. Liverpool. English: ibidem. Euseb. Eusebius VC. Life of Constantine, translated, with introduction and commentary, by A. Life of Cameron and S. G. Hall (1999). Constantine Oxford. Eutr. Eutropius Brev. Breviarium Ab Urbe Condita, F. Ruehl Abridgment of ed. (1887). Leipzig. English: H. W. Roman History Bird (1993) Eutropius: Breviarium. Liverpool. Gai. Gaius Inst. Institutionum Commentarii Quattuor, Institutes E. Seckel and B. Kuebler eds. (1913) Leipzig. Them. Themistius Or. Themistii Orationes quae supersunt, Orations H. Schenkl, G. Downey, A. F. Norman eds. (1971) Leipzig. English: P. Heather and D. Moncur (2001) Politics, Philosophy, and Empire in the Fourth Century: Select Orations of Themistius. Liverpool; P. Heather and J. Matthews (1991) The Goths in the fourth century. Liverpool. Veg. Vegetius Mil. Epitoma Rei Militaris, C. Lang ed. Epitome of (1885) Leipzig: Teubner. English: Military Science Flavius Vegetius Renatus. Epitoma Rei Militaris, edited with an English translation by Leo F. Stelten (1990). New York. Zos. Zosimus New History Historia nova, L. Mendelssohn ed. (1887) Leipzig: Teubner. English: R. T. Ridley (1982) Zosimus, New History. A Translation with Commentary. Canberra. 6 Defining a Roman Identity List of tables Ammianus’ use of peregrinus and advena in the digressions on Rome (pp. 126-128). The differences between Justin’s account of the Scythians and Ammianus’ account of the Huns (pp. 221-222). 7 Defining a Roman Identity Abstract This thesis argues that Ammianus is interested in, and attempts to define, a Roman identity applicable to his own multifarious world. It argues that Ammianus and some of his peers discern a clear increase in the number of foreigners and outsiders in the empire. While some of his peers lament this perception and adopt a hard-line
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