The Historians of Late Antiquity Read online

  THE HISTORIANS OF

  LATE ANTIQUITY

  The fourth and fifth centuries AD were an era of religious conflict, political change, and military struggle. The responses of contemporary historians to these turbulent times reflect their diverse backgrounds – they were both Christian and pagan, writing in Greek and Latin, and documenting church and state.

  This volume is the first accessible survey of the lives and works of these historians. Chapters 1–12 explore the structure, style, purpose, and nature of their writings. Chapters 13–19 compare and contrast the information they provide, and the views they express, on topics central to the period. These range from historiography, government, and religion to barbarian invasions, and the controversial emperors Julian ‘The Apostate’ and Theodosius I.

  This much-needed introductory work is an invaluable guide and reference tool for the study of late antiquity.

  David Rohrbacher is Assistant Professor of Classics at New College of Florida, Sarasota, Florida.

  THE HISTORIANS

  OF LATE

  ANTIQUITY

  David Rohrbacher

  First published 2002

  by Routledge

  11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

  Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

  by Routledge

  29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

  © 2002 David Rohrbacher

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow,

  Cornwall

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or

  reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,

  mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,

  including photocopying and recording, or in any

  information storage or retrieval system, without permission in

  writing from the publishers.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book has been requested

  ISBN 0–415–20458–5 (hbk)

  ISBN 0–415–20459–3 (pbk)

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  Abbreviations

  Introduction

  1 Ammianus Marcellinus

  2 Aurelius Victor

  3 Eutropius

  4 Festus

  5 Eunapius

  6 Olympiodorus

  7 Priscus

  8 Rufinus

  9 Socrates

  10 Sozomen

  11 Theodoret

  12 Orosius

  13 Historiography

  14 Government

  15 The Roman Past

  16 Religion

  17 Barbarians

  18 The emperor Julian (the Apostate)

  19 The emperor Theodosius I (the Great)

  Bibliography

  Index

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Many people aided me in the writing of this book. I thank Richard Stoneman and Catherine Bousfield at Routledge for their patience. The completion of the manuscript was aided by a grant from the Division of Sponsored Research at the University of South Florida. Thanks are also due to Holly Barone, Ed Foster, and the staff at interlibrary loan at New College of Florida and the University of South Florida, the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham, Anne Ankers and the staff at Hatfield College, my colleagues in the Department of Classics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the staff at interlibrary loan at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, my colleagues and students at New College of Florida, Michael Clater and the staff of the library at Clearwater Christian College, Katherine Maynard, Leo Allen, Jared and Casey Wilson, Julie Hayward, Donn D’Alessio, and my mother and father. This book, like so many other things, suffers from the absence of the discriminating eye of my father-in-law, Paul Latowsky, who passed away during its preparation.

  I owe an incalculable debt to my wife, Anne, who edited the manuscript and suffered with me through its creation. I dedicate this book to her, with thanks and love.

  ABBREVIATIONS

  Amm. Ammianus of Marcellinus

  Aug Augustine of Hippo

  cod codex (book)

  Cod. Th Codex Theodosianus (Theodosian Code)

  comm. ad Ezech Commentarium ad Ezechiel (Commentary on the book of Ezechiel)

  comm. ad Zach Commentarium ad Zachariam (Commentary on the book of Zachariah)

  dem. evang Demonstratio Evangelica (The Proof of the Gospel)

  ep epistula (letter)

  Eun Eunapius

  Eus Eusebius of Caesarea

  Eut Eutropius

  Fest Festus

  fr. fragmentum (fragment)

  HE Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History)

  hist. relig Historia Religiosa (History of the Monks)

  ILS H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae

  Jer Jerome

  KG Kaisergeschichte

  Jul Julian

  or. oratio (oration)

  pref. preface

  Ruf Rufinus

  scr. orig. const. T. Preger, Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitianarum

  Soc Socrates

  Soz Sozomen

  Sym Symmachus

  Theod Theodoret

  Vell. Pat Velleius Paterculus

  Vic Aurelius Victor

  vir. ill. De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men)

  Zos Zosimus

  INTRODUCTION

  Interest in late antiquity has increased dramatically in recent decades, and the profusion of scholarly work on the subject shows no sign of abating. The scope of “late antiquity” itself has undergone an expansion both chronologically and geographically. Events as early as the second and as late as the tenth centuries have been described as “late antique,” as have events in the histories of Iran, Africa, and Arabia. This book takes a comparatively restricted view of the term “late antique,” treating only what seems still to be the core of the late antiquity, the fourth and fifth centuries in the Roman empire. During these two centuries, the empire became Christian, and the political unity of the Mediterranean was sundered by the end of imperial rule over the western provinces. (Useful modern introductions to the period include Jones 1964, 1966; Brown 1971; Cameron 1993a, 1993b; Bowersock et al. 1999.)

  Scholarly interpretations of the transformations which took place during late antiquity have been altered by the continual accumulation of new sources of information, such as new archaeological exploration and analysis. Just as important as the new data, however, have been changes in attitude and perspective. What had once been seen only as a melancholy time of “Decline and Fall” is now more likely to be celebrated for its new and innovative approaches to religion, art, and culture. Modern judgements on late antiquity are certain to be influenced by modern sentiments about Christianity, empire, and multiculturalism. This study seeks not to pass new judgement on this complex period, but to better illuminate how it was perceived by those living and writing at the time.

  The Roman empire in the fourth and fifth centuries: political history

  The later empire must be considered in the light of the events of the third century, and, more specifically, the events of the years between the murder of Alexander Severus in 235 and the accession of Diocletian in 284. The degree to which the political and economic instability of the period impinged upon the life of the average citizen of the empire has been disputed. Nevertheless, several aspects of the so-called “crisis of the third c
entury” are worthy of note. The rise to power of a new, aggressive, and westward-looking dynasty in Persia, the Sasanians, resulted in major military losses on the eastern frontier. This threat may have emboldened or enabled enemies on other frontiers, who struck repeatedly during this period. The military crisis was exacerbated by a political crisis, which saw approximately two dozen emperors serve in a mere fifty years, almost every one assassinated or killed in civil war. Military and political turmoil was joined by an economic meltdown, as frequent debasement of the currency led to massive inflation and the virtual demonetization of the empire.

  The emperor Aurelian (270–5) restored the unity of the empire and made some economic reforms, but was assassinated after five years in office. The reign of the reforming emperor Diocletian, who came to power ten years later, is more often considered a major turning point in imperial history. During Diocletian’s reign, the Persians were soundly defeated and the empire remained generally at peace. In what appears to have been an attempt to establish clear lines of succession, and thereby to reduce the prevalence of civil war, Diocletian established a system of government called the Tetrarchy. The emperor selected two senior and two junior emperors, known as “Augustus” and as “Caesar.” It was expected that the Caesares would one day succeed the Augusti, and select Caesares of their own. Emperors by this time had long ceased to reside at Rome, and the four tetrarchs tended to be in constant motion along the frontier with their comitatus, their administrators and bodyguard. Diocletian doubled the number of provinces of the empire by subdivision, which allowed imperial functionaries to more efficiently control their smaller jurisdictions, and he also revamped the system of taxation after an empire-wide census. Diocletian was the first emperor to fully embrace the regal and absolutist stylings of a Hellenistic or Persian king, and the late empire is sometimes called the Dominate after the new title for the Roman emperor, dominus or lord. Diocletian’s restoration of order to the empire through the use of an enlarged army and an increasingly autocratic and bureaucratic style of administration set the tone for the governments of the next two centuries.

  The tetrarchic system was one of Diocletian’s reforms which did not long outlast its inventor, as the tetrarchs and their relatives fell into a series of bloody civil wars shortly after Diocletian’s abdication in 305. When the smoke cleared, it was Constantine I who emerged as sole emperor in 324. In addition to Constantine’s momentous conversion to Christianity, about which more will be said below, the emperor ratified and extended many of Diocletian’s reforms. In particular, he successfully restored a gold currency to the empire after Diocletian’s failed attempts at monetary reform, in part thanks to the massive confiscation of gold from pagan temples toward the end of his reign. Constantine was also responsible for the founding of “New Rome,” Constantinople, the eastern capital which grew rapidly in size and importance in the fourth century.

  Constantine died in 337 and was succeeded by three sons, Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II. The brothers divided the empire among themselves, but soon came into conflict. Constantine II was killed while invading Constans’ territory in 340, and Constans was killed by a usurper, Magnentius, in 350. As Constantius headed west to avenge his brother, he appointed his nephew Gallus as Caesar in the east in 351. Magnentius was defeated in 353, and shortly thereafter Gallus was recalled to the imperial court and put to death, perhaps as punishment for the violence he had provoked during food shortages at Antioch. Continuing incursions along the Persian frontier demanded Constantius’ presence in the east, and the emperor therefore appointed his other nephew, Julian, as Caesar in 355 and sent him to Gaul. After successfully restoring order to the province, which had suffered during the usurpation of Magnentius when Constantius had encouraged barbarian attacks, Julian was raised to the rank of Augustus by his troops. Constantius’ refusal to accept this promotion meant war, but before the eastern and western armies could seriously clash Constantius died of a fever in November 361 and Julian became sole ruler of the empire.

  Julian had been secretly a pagan for years, and his sudden rise to power allowed him to reveal his religious beliefs and to attempt to reverse the legal and social benefits which Christianity had accumulated under the rule of Constantine and his sons. His religious policies generally fell short of full persecution but were calculated to remove privileges from the church and to impose certain burdens upon Christians. Christians reacted with fear and fury, pagans with joy and triumph. In 363 Julian mounted a full-scale invasion of Persia which proved to be a miserable failure, and the emperor was killed during the retreat.

  After Julian’s death, military leaders in an emergency meeting selected a Christian, Jovian, as the new emperor. Jovian died after less than eight months in office, and was replaced in February 364 by Valentinian I, who ruled the western half of the empire and appointed his brother, Valens, to rule the eastern half. Procopius, one of Julian’s relatives, attempted to restore the Constantinian dynasty but was quickly crushed by Valens in 365. When Valentinian was ill in 367, he prepared for his succession by naming his 8-year-old son Gratian as Augustus. As soon as Valentinian died in a fit of anger while receiving a barbarian embassy in 375, his ministers quickly named his second son, the 4-year-old Valentinian II, as Augustus. This move, which may have been designed to ensure the loyalty of the western armies, was grudgingly accepted by Gratian, and the child remained under the protection of his mother, Justina, in northern Italy.

  Valentinian I had spent his reign fighting along the Rhine, and his generals were kept busy by disturbances in Britain and Africa. Valens fought the Goths inconclusively in the 360s and fended off plots and suspected plots against him by a series of harsh trials which sparked complaints of judicial excesses. The brothers favored the military and were as a consequence not trusted by senators and other civilians. Both continued the policy of religious toleration toward paganism which Jovian had pronounced after the death of Julian.

  After attacks by the Huns in 376, a tribe of Goths petitioned Valens for permission to settle inside the empire. After the request was granted, the migration went disastrously wrong, and Roman confusion and corruption led the Goths to rise in revolt. The attempt by Valens to put down the revolt in a battle on 9 August 378 near Adrianople led to his death and the destruction of the eastern army. The Goths had free rein throughout the Balkans for several years until a peace was made under the leadership of Gratian’s new partner as Augustus, the Spaniard Theodosius I. The settlement has been frequently seen as a turning point in imperial history, since for the first time barbarians were settled inside the empire as allied troops who would retain their political sovereignty.

  In August 383, the general Magnus Maximus was proclaimed emperor in Britain, and Gratian was murdered by his troops. Italy, Pannonia, and Africa remained loyal to Valentinian II, who was now 13 and still under the thumb of his mother Justina. In 387 Maximus invaded Italy, and Theodosius in response moved west and defeated the usurper in 388, having left the east in the control of his older son Arcadius. Theodosius returned to Constantinople in 391 after sending Valentinian II to Gaul with the Frankish general Arbogast. Conflict between Arbogast and Valentinian II led to the emperor’s suspicious death, officially a suicide, in 392. Arbogast then raised Eugenius, an obscure schoolteacher, to the throne. Theodosius returned to the west and defeated Arbogast and Eugenius at the Frigidus river in September 394, but died a few months later. He left two sons, the 17-year-old Arcadius in the east and the 10-year-old Honorius in the west. The empire, which had briefly been unified under the sole rule of Theodosius I, would never be so again.

  At the death of Theodosius I, the western army was under the control of the general Stilicho, who acted as regent for the child Honorius. Stilicho’s claim that Theodosius, on his deathbed, had also granted him regency over the eastern emperor Arcadius may or may not have been true, but it poisoned relations between the two halves of the empire during Stilicho’s lifetime. The Gothic leader Alaric played off thi
s mistrust by being alternately allied with and inimical toward the west. In addition to Gothic attacks, which culminated in Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410, the west suffered from a major German invasion in 405 under the leadership of Radagaisus and a further breach of the Rhine in 406–7. After Stilicho’s assassination in 408, the west saw a succession of usurpations in Britain and Gaul. After the death of Alaric in 411, Honorius’ general Constantius put down the usurpers, and Spain and Gaul were pacified through a combination of military reconquest and the hiring of barbarian peoples as federate armies. Britain, however, was never reconquered, and was lost to imperial control forever. Honorius’ sister Galla Placidia married Constantius in 421 and the two had a son, Valentinian III. Constantius died at the end of the year and Galla Placidia withdrew to Constantinople with her son after a quarrel with Honorius. When Honorius died without an heir in 423, the eastern government supported the claims of his nephew, the baby Valentinian III, and sent an army to kill John, the official who had been proclaimed Augustus. Valentinian III was named Augustus at Rome on 23 October 423.

  Power in the east after Theodosius’ death remained in civilian control, with the brief ascendancy of the praetorian prefect Rufinus followed by the domination of the eunuch Eutropius. The rebellion of the Gothic federate Gainas in 399 resulted in the execution of Eutropius but Gainas and the Goths were put down and civilian government continued under the prefectures of Aurelian and Anthemius. On Arcadius’ death in May 408 his 6-year-old son Theodosius II was named Augustus. Theodosius II was brought up by his pious and forceful sister Pulcheria, who was influential in policy matters. After the emperor’s marriage in 421 to Aelia Eudocia, the empress, too, became a powerful force at court. The palace eunuch Chrysaphius succeeded in disgracing Eudocia and her friend Cyrus of Panopolis after 441 and maintained a powerful role in government until his execution after Theodosius’ death in 450.