F.-G. Herrmann & I. Repath (eds), Some Organic Readings of Narrative (Ancient Narrative supplement 27; Groningen: Barkhuis, 2019), 233-54., 2019
This chapter examines how, by means of a carefully constructed narrative, the fourth-century Lati... more This chapter examines how, by means of a carefully constructed narrative, the fourth-century Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus presents not so much a description of the Roman empire in his own day as a diagnosis of its ills and recommendations of how they might be cured. The analysis focuses on the historian's celebrated description of the emperor Constantius II's adventus to Rome in 357. It is argued here that the account is remarkably subversive, both in terms of the description it offers, and how it is embedded in Ammianus' wider narrative. Constantius had come to Rome to celebrate a victory in civil war, but Ammianus regarded such festivities as wholly inappropriate at a time when the empire was facing existential threats from across its frontiers, and his description underscores his distaste. At the same time, Constantius' unmilitary lassitude is explicitly contrasted, by means of narrative juxtaposition, with an altogether more worthy demonstration of imperial activity focused on the defence of Roman territory by Ammianus' hero, the Caesar Julian.
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This chapter examines the extent to which the cultivation of the apostles Peter and Paul as founders of a specifically Christian Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries led to a displacement of the traditional foundation narrative of Rome associated with Romulus and Remus. A juxtaposition between the rival pairs of founders is found in sermons of Pope Leo I, and these can be read as indicative of a wider trend in which Rome's traditional founders receded from view. A key period in this transformation falls between the mid-fourth and mid-fifth centuries, beginning with the historian Aurelius Victor complaining about the lack of observance of Rome's 1100 th anniversary in 348, and concluding with Leo's rejection of the twins in favour of the apostles. A significant spike in the debate can be located in the Theodosian period, when imperial devotions to Peter and Paul were signalled by ceremonial and topographical changes in the city. The poetry of Prudentius is shown to provide a significant echo chamber for these changes.
Marcellin. Cet article examine un aspect souvent négligé ou mal compris de son récit : les descriptions physiques de ses protagonistes. La lecture de ces descriptions, à la lumière de la pensée tardo-antique de la physionomie, du geste et du comportement, suggère qu’elles offrent une forme cohérente de caractérisation, à travers laquelle Ammien met en évidence les jugements moraux qu’il offre sur les individus qui peuplent son histoire.
This chapter examines the extent to which the cultivation of the apostles Peter and Paul as founders of a specifically Christian Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries led to a displacement of the traditional foundation narrative of Rome associated with Romulus and Remus. A juxtaposition between the rival pairs of founders is found in sermons of Pope Leo I, and these can be read as indicative of a wider trend in which Rome's traditional founders receded from view. A key period in this transformation falls between the mid-fourth and mid-fifth centuries, beginning with the historian Aurelius Victor complaining about the lack of observance of Rome's 1100 th anniversary in 348, and concluding with Leo's rejection of the twins in favour of the apostles. A significant spike in the debate can be located in the Theodosian period, when imperial devotions to Peter and Paul were signalled by ceremonial and topographical changes in the city. The poetry of Prudentius is shown to provide a significant echo chamber for these changes.
Marcellin. Cet article examine un aspect souvent négligé ou mal compris de son récit : les descriptions physiques de ses protagonistes. La lecture de ces descriptions, à la lumière de la pensée tardo-antique de la physionomie, du geste et du comportement, suggère qu’elles offrent une forme cohérente de caractérisation, à travers laquelle Ammien met en évidence les jugements moraux qu’il offre sur les individus qui peuplent son histoire.
Some of the details in what follows are obviously very specific to my institution in the early 2010s, but I hope that some of the basic tasks might be adaptable by anyone confronting this challenge with their own students.