Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXVII

383 Pages·2009·3.63 MB·English

by  J. den Boeft

Philological and Historical Commentary on
Ammianus Marcellinus XXVII

Philological and Historical
Commentary on Ammianus
Marcellinus XXVII
By
J. den Boeft, J.W. Drijvers,
D. den Hengst and H.C. Teitler
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978 90 04 18037 6
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Preface ................................................ vii
Introduction ........................................ ix
Chronology ......................................... xiii
Legenda .............................................. xxix
Maps ................................................... xxxii
Commentary on Chapter 1 ................. 1
Commentary on Chapter 2 ............... 13
Commentary on Chapter 3 ................ 33
Commentary on Chapter 4 ................ 77
Commentary on Chapter 5 ................ 103
Commentary on Chapter 6 ................ 127
Commentary on Chapter 7 ................. 161
Commentary on Chapter 8 ................ 181
Commentary on Chapter 9 ................ 203
Commentary on Chapter 10 ............... 223
Commentary on Chapter 11 ............... 251
Commentary on Chapter 12 ............... 267
Bibliography ........................................ 295
Indices ................................................. 317

PREFACE
The greater part of Book 27 is devoted to military operations in the
western as well as the eastern half of the Roman Empire. However, the
author also deals with the terms of offi ce of four Roman urban prefects
and the career of another important civil offi cial. For these passages we
benefi ted from M.P. van de Wiel’s detailed commentary on the ‘Roman’
chapters in the Res Gestae (Amsterdam 1989). We thank Dr Colombo for
kindly giving us the opportunity to consult his unpublished dissertation
Prolegomena Ammianea con specimen di commento fi lologico, linguistico e storico al
libro XXVII delle Res Gestae.
As usual, friends and colleagues helped us with their advice, and Ines
van de Wetering corrected our English. Henri de Bie gave our drafts of
the maps their fi nal form. The publishing house Koninklijke Brill pre-
pared the publication of this volume with professional care.
J. den Boeft
J.W. Drijvers
D. den Hengst
H.C. Teitler

INTRODUCTION
In Book 26, the fi rst of the six books about the reign of the Pannonian
emperors, Ammianus announced his decision to deal with the events in
the West and the East in large, separate units in order to avoid a chaotic
alternation of brief episodes. This strategy created very little alterna-
tion in Book 26, because, after reporting the start of Valentinian’s cam-
paigns against the Alamans, the author had to spend the rest of the
book on a varied, and at times detailed, description of Procopius’ usur-
pation. In the present book, which, roughly speaking, deals with events
between 365 and 370, the idea behind the planned structure is more
visible. Various military operations in the western and eastern half of
the Empire, each against three opponents, take up a large part of the
available space. Valentinian has to cope with invasions into Gaul by
the Alamans, insurrection in Britain, and the fi rst stages of a rebellion
in Africa; in Valens’ part of the Empire campaigns against the Goths,
the ongoing Persian danger, which manifested itself in efforts to annex
Armenia and Hiberia, and the damage caused by Isaurian raiders who
were making a nuisance of themselves, receive due attention.
Apart from these problems on the frontiers of the Empire, Ammianus
deals with internal affairs. He pays ample attention to the eventful terms
of offi ce of four Roman urban prefects and paints a picture of perhaps
the mightiest civil offi cial of the period, Sextus Claudius Petronius Pro-
bus. The most striking part of the book is, however, a long passage in
which Valentinian, clearly the senior and more authoritative of the two
emperors, is portrayed with reference to both his avowed principles and
his actual conduct. The two chapters into which this passage has been
divided form the centre of the book, which therefore has the structure
of a triptych: of the two outer parts each contains an alternation of
military affairs in the West and the East and reports on some notable
non-military events, whilst in the central panel the personality of Valen-
tinian takes pride of place.
Generally speaking, the various military campaigns and operations
were reasonably successful. After an initial Roman setback, described in
chapter 1, the Alaman intruders were heavily defeated by the outstand-
ing general Iovinus, whose feats are the subject matter of chapter 2. In
the eastern half of the Empire Valens felt he had to punish the Goths