Experience The Later Roman Empire A.D. 354-378 Authored By Ammianus Marcellinus Available In Readable Copy

took me ages to finish this book, It's mostly Marcellinus talking about the various military campaigns of Julian, who is now my favourite Roman Emperor, He was very just and noble, There were a few interesting characters, besides Julian, such as Paul The Chain and Silvanus who deserved better, I didn't know Constantius was so petty and paranoid, Here are a few things I learnt from this book:

, Cleopatra was clever! She had a causeway built linking Pharos to the mainland in seven days, to avoid paying taxes to Rhodians because Pharos was an island and presumably, according to Rhodian Maritime Law, islands in the Mediterranean had to pay taxes.

. Augury bird divination.
. Apis bull and its ritual sacrifice,
. Oaks of Dodona Prior to starting this book, I hadnt known that the earlier part of Ammianus history has been lost, All that survives is his account of the quarter century betweenand, Thoseyears do though stretch topages in the edition I read, not including the notes, This period was part of Ammianus own lifetime, and he was a direct participant in some of the events he describes, The main emperors that feature are Constantius I Julian “the Apostate” and the coemperors Valentinian I and

his brother Valens, Julian is the one that Ammianus most admires, In his own words, his narrative “will not fall far short of a panegyric”, of Julian, although he is not entirely uncritical, In general though, the capriciousness and paranoia of the various emperors is vividly portrayed, as is the precariousness of life under their rule,

I like books about the Roman Empire, but even for an enthusiast like me this wasnt the quickest read, Ammianus lived a time when the Roman world was rapidly adopting Christianity, but he was a pagan and talks a lot about portents, omens, divination etc, He also has a tendency to go off on grumpy old man rants about how the Romans have become too fond of soft living, and how it wasnt like that in the good old days.
Still, there is much of interest here,

Rome itself was sacked by the Goths onlyyears after the end date of this book, and the reader gets a sense of how the Empire was tottering.
In thes Ammianus describes how “Long neglect had exposed the provinces of Gaul to the miseries of slaughter, pillage, and fire the barbarians plundered at will and no help came”.
Of particular interest to me was a description of how in Britain inAD, “the wild tribes of the Scots and Picts broke their undertaking to keep peace, laid waste the country near the frontier”.
This is the earliest reference I have personally seen to the Scots as a separate ethnic group to the Picts, ByAmmianus reports that “practically the whole Roman world heard the trumpetcall of war, as savage peoples stirred themselves and raided the frontiers nearest to them, The Alamanni were ravaging Gaul and Raetia simultaneously the Sarmatians and Quadi were devastating Pannonia the Picts, Saxons, Scots, and Attacotti were bringing continual misery upon Britain the Austoriani and other Moorish peoples were attacking Africa with more than usual violence and predatory bands of Goths were plundering Thrace and Moesia.
The king of Persia was laying unlawful hands on Armenia and sparing no effort to bring that country once more under his rule, ”

Ammianus argues that the “seed bed and origin of all this destruction” were the Huns, whom he says dwelt beyond what we now call the Sea of Azov.
Its clear from the text that he viewed these steppe nomads with both fascination and horror, Initially falling on their western neighbours the Alans, they caused a domino effect in which the Alans attacked the Goths, large numbers of whom sought refuge within the Roman Empire but then rebelled against the Romans.
The book closes with an account of the catastrophic Roman defeat at Adrianople, at the hands of the Goths, Most modern historians see this as a major event in the decline of the Empire,

As if the emperors didnt have enough to deal with, Ammianus tells us of a huge earthquake and tsunami in the Eastern Mediterranean in thes, with a description of the sea being drawn out and then crashing back in a huge wave that went miles inland.
There were also some brilliant details shedding light on Roman customs and diet, In praising the emperor Julian, Ammianus comments that he ate the same food as his soldiers and rejected such “delicacies” as “sows womb and udders”, I think I might have just gone straight to the ice cream,

Not the lightest of reads, but a great book for those with an interest in the ancient Romans, He was not a professional man of letters but an army officer of Greek origin born at Antioch and contemporary with the events described in what remains of his work.
He set himself the task of continuing the histories of Tacitus from A, D.down to his own day, The first thirteen of his thirtyone books are lost the remainder describe a period of only twentyfive years A, D.and the reigns of the emperors Constantis, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian and Valens, for which he is a prime authority, He was a pagan and an admirer of the apostate Julian, to whose career about half the surviving books are devoted, Nevertheless, his treatment of Christianity is free from prejudice and his impartiality and good judgement have been generally acknowledged, This history has a few more curious anecdotal side stories to help the reader through the usual unending chain of battles and the morass of common Roman names so easily confused with their more famous predecessors.
Refreshingly though, Christians are treated as fellow citizens and without the predictable prejudices of earlier Roman works, Very interesting and especially a high literary level, This is a mix of Herodotus and Thucydides, As a work of history it's more professional than Livy, Striking are the moralizing reflections that testify to a great experience, human knowledge and wisdom, Loved this. It only encompassesyears of the mid to late fourth century, but this bloke was there and witnessed it first hand, It is so eloquently worded, presenting a raw and graphic representation of events, As good as Plutarch is, Ammianus makes him look ordinary, Onvan : The Later Roman Empire A, D.Nevisande : Ammianus Marcellinus ISBN :ISBN:DarSafhe Saal e Chap :Ammianuss history, Rerum gestarum libri “The Chronicles of Events”, consisted ofbooks, of which only the last, covering the years, survive.
The firstbooks were already unavailable to scholars in theth century, In light of the need forbooks to coveryears, the firstmust have been relatively sparse in their account of the period fromthrough, The surviving books give a clear, comprehensive account of events by a writer of soldierly qualities, independent judgment, and wide reading, Drawing upon his own experience, Ammianus supplies vivid pictures of the empires economic and social problems, His accounts are especially full and sympathetic toward his commanders, Ursicinus and Julian, and many readers have seen Julian as the hero of the work, Ammianus admired Julian as a man, a soldier, and a leader yet, although they were both pagans, he criticized Julians religious policies, His judgment in political affairs was limited only by his own straightforward attitude, He used the regular techniques of later Roman historiographyrhetoric in his speeches, ethnographical digressions in descriptions, such as that of the culture of the Huns, and biographical conventions in character sketches along with fondness for literary allusion, overabundant metaphor, and much ornament.
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