The Politics of Empire: a Study of the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus in the Context of the Roman Historiographical Tradition

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to ascertain what intellectual stance (if any) underlies the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus. That is to say, are we able to isolate a single idea or set of ideas underlying the historian's interpretation of the events depicted in his work? Clearly this will require an understanding of the nature of his work and his proud career. At the conclusion of his work, Ammianus Marcellinus declares, it seems with pride, that he has composed to the best of his ability a complete narrative of the years encompassed by the respective deaths of the emperors Nerva and Valens - a period of some 280 years. 31.16.7: haec ut miles quondam et Graecus, a principatu Caesaris Nervae exorsus, ad usque Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum numquam (ut arbitror) sciens silentio ausus corrumpere, vel mendacio. ("This is the history of events from the reign of the emperor Nerva to the death of Valens, which I, a former soldier and a Greek, have composed to the best of my ability. It claims to be the truth, which I have never ventured to pervert either by silence or lie"). For all of my quotations from the Res Gestae, I have used the text of Rolf (1925). For translations I have generally followed Hamilton (1986), although I have made some changes where I have considered them necessary. Unfortunately the iniquities of time have ensured that the first 13 of the original 31 books have been lost. It might be argued, however, that it is the better and more informative portion of the work that has survived. Although the part of the work that is extant amounts to little more than half of the original, it covers a period of only 24 years from 354-378 - a small fraction of the overall period originally covered by the work. Yet this section, which chronicles the reigns of five emperors contemporary to the historian's own life and public career, examines in extraordinary detail the social and political developments of a critical period of Roman history that was representative of the first signs of the decline of Rome as a world power. Among the more important issues are the increasing number of military crises, both civil and foreign in origin, among which is recorded the crushing defeat of the Roman legions by Gothic armies outside Adrianople; this massacre would also see the death in battle of Valens, emperor of the Eastern Empire. Also of note is the emphasis in the history on religion, in particular the growing influence within the imperial administration of the Christian church, which was rapidly gaining an acceptance in society at large. It was this interesting choice of topics, along with the history's position as the only surviving text of any real substance for this period, that ensured a place for the Res Gestae in the hearts and minds of later scholars. This is illustrated most clearly by none other than Edward Gibbon, who, in the conclusion of his own account of Adrianople in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, gives the following final farewell to Ammianus: