Defining a Roman Identity in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus

267 Pages·2017·1.67 MB·English

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
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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
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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

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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
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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.

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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).

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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 approach, Ammianus has a much
more nuanced view. It is argued that the model of Roman identity which he
devises not only accounts for foreigners, but actually, in some cases, makes
them exemplars of a flexible Roman identity based chiefly on the notion of
appropriate behaviour. In this sense, his identity scheme is ultimately
integrative and inclusive. As part of his definition of identity, Ammianus
utilises an ‘outsider’ perspective. This perspective is shown to dictate not
only how he portrays his characters and their deeds, but even how he
reflects on the substance of Romanness as a continual dialogue between
‘Roman’ and ‘foreign’, broadly conceived. It is finally argued that
Ammianus’ purpose in defining such an identity is to ensure that the
eternity of the empire, in which he firmly believes, is safeguarded by future
‘Romans’ who perhaps may never even see the City itself, but nevertheless
remain committed to its protection.
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Defining a Roman Identity
Declaration
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in
support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any
other university or other institute of learning.
Copyright statement
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to
this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”)
and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such
Copyright, including for administrative purposes.
ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or
electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it
or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the
University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such
copies made.
iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and
other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any
reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and
tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be
owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual
Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for
use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant
Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.
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publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any
Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is
available in the University IP Policy (see
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=24420), in any
relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library,
The University Library’s regulations (see
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The
University’s policy on Presentation of Theses.
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Defining a Roman Identity

A note on Ammianus’ text
With a few exceptions, the text and translation of the Res Gestae used
throughout this thesis is taken from the Loeb edition by J. C. Rolfe (3 vols.
rev. and repr. 1950. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press). On occasion, I
have also used the translation by W. Hamilton in the Penguin edition
(1986, repr. 2004. London); and, occasionally, translated the Latin myself.
Places where I have deviated from Rolfe are marked in the text.
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