Historia Augusta

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The oldest manuscript in the Historia Augusta (1st half of the 9th century). End of the life of Antoninus Pius and beginning of the life of Mark Aurel . Above, a note in the margin by Petrarch who discovered the handwriting. Rome ( Vatican City ), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana , Vaticanus Palatinus lat. 899, fol. 19r

The Historia Augusta ( imperial history , even Scriptores Historiae Augustae ; the original title is not recorded) is an on Latin wrote late antique collection of 30 vitae (biographies) Roman emperors and usurpers of the time of Hadrian to Numerian / Carinus (117-284 / 85 ). The Historia Augusta has survived for the most part, but not in full.

The work presents itself as a collection of emperor biographies, which were written by six different authors around 300. However, modern research has made it plausible that the names of the authors are fictitious and that the Historia Augusta was in fact written by only one author, probably at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries. This anonymous author has woven numerous fictional elements into the lives and misrepresented several events. The vast majority of researchers now accept this view. Numerous individual questions (including the date, the author's intention and his sources) are still the subject of scientific discussion.

As a literary work of relatively modest quality, the Historia Augusta has met with limited interest from classical philologists. However, due to the lack of literary representations for this period, it is one of the most important historical sources for research into the high imperial era, albeit one of the most controversial historical sources with regard to their reliability, which is illustrated by an extensive research literature and a series of research colloquia devoted exclusively to the Historia Augusta . Despite the questionability or verifiable inaccuracy of many of the information, the work also offers a great deal of credible information and, if used carefully, represents an important source for the high Roman imperial era. But it is also still like for the intellectual climate of its time of origin and the reception of the past in late antiquity an important testimony in front of much enigmatic text.

The author's question

The authors of the vitae summarized in the Historia Augusta (the original title is unknown) are given in the manuscripts as six otherwise unproven authors who have been referred to as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae ("Author of the Imperial History") since Casaubonus 1603 :

  • Aelius Spartianus
  • Iulius Capitolinus
  • Vulcacius Gallicanus
  • Aelius Lampridius
  • Trebellius Pollio
  • Flavius ​​Vopiscus

The alleged authors claim that the work was created during the time of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine . Sometimes they even relate to each other in the vitae, so Vopiscus to Pollio. In reality, however, the vitae were most likely written much later and by only one person, as Hermann Dessau already suspected in 1889 in a groundbreaking article in the specialist journal Hermes , in which Dessau discovered numerous anachronisms and demonstrated the use of works that only occurred after death Constantine. Dessau's theses were hotly debated for a long time and also rejected by several scholars, while Otto Seeck, for example, sided with Dessau. Theodor Mommsen finally came out in favor of a middle ground, assuming that the vitae came from different authors, but were later edited by an (incompetent) editor . Arnaldo Momigliano was still skeptical about dating to the time around 400, since he believed that it could be written in Constantinian times.

Dessau's approach ultimately prevailed and is basically accepted today by the vast majority of specialist scientists. The research that followed Dessau played a major role in this. The works of Ernst Hohl , Johannes Straub and the important ancient historian Ronald Syme , who have dealt intensively with the Historia Augusta , should be mentioned.

However, it is still open who the author was or what his intention was. These questions are also connected with the problematic dating of the Historia Augusta . The unknown author, as his senate-friendly attitude shows, among other things, very likely came from the city-Roman-senatorial environment, with a special interest in the city ​​prefects of Rome . He was obviously literary and rhetorical. Of the six alleged authors of the Historia Augusta , only Flavius ​​Vopiscus reveals anything about himself, although it is hardly possible to draw conclusions about the actual anonymous author. In any case, “Vopiscus” pretends to have been a confidante of the Prefect of Rome, Junius Tiberianus. Two persons of this name actually held this office in Diocletian times: 291 to 292 and another Tiberianus from 303 to 304. In the foreword of the vita Aureliani , “Vopiscus” describes how Tiberianus gave him this during the feast of Hilaria (on March 25th) "If, as is well known, everything you say and do is meant to be joking", I gave the order to write several imperial servants. The undoubtedly fictional (and ironic) advice of Tiberianus is revealing and almost indicative of the ambiguous character of the Historia Augusta : “You can tell what you want without worry. With your lies you will find yourself in the company of people whom we admire as masters of historical prose. "

The research mainly assumes that the author of the Historia Augusta Heide was and wrote the Viten around 400. In the context of the dispute between Christian and pagan ideas in the reign of Theodosius , a person from the circle of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and Virius Nicomachus Flavianus , the two leading personalities of the pagan Senate aristocracy at the end of the 4th century , was therefore often considered as the author . Sometimes even Nicomachus Flavianus himself was suspected to be the author, but this must remain speculative. In 2007 Stéphane Ratti again pleaded for Nicomachus Flavianus, who also wrote a now-lost historical work entitled Annales . On the other hand, Michel Festy argued for his son and a drafting in the early 5th century, whereby for Festy the pagan-senatorial attitude is more a reflection of the past.

More recently, even Eusebius of Nantes has been suggested as the author , who is considered by some researchers to be the author of the so-called Enmann Imperial History .

Content and tendency

Original scope

The vitae for the period between 244 and 253 have not survived, Valerian's biography (253–260) has only survived in fragments, and part of the vita of Gallienus (260–268) is also missing . It is generally assumed that these text gaps that appear in both extant manuscript classes must go back to a common mutilated archetype. However, research has also considered that these loopholes may have been intended by the author of the Historia Augusta .

Furthermore, it is not known whether the author, in order to fill the gap between his Viten and the Viten Suetons, also dealt with the reigns of the Emperors Nerva and Trajan , since the beginning of the Historia Augusta has probably not survived: “The prelude is for ancient circumstances the Historia Augusta without a thematic introduction or a dedicated foreword by the author, ”says Jörg Fündling . Presumably, therefore, at the beginning of the work, the expected Proömium and the vites of Nerva, Trajan and the usurper Nigrinus are missing .

Classification in literary history and formal structure

A development began at the beginning of the 2nd century with the Imperial Suetons , which pushed back the traditional form of historiography in the west of the Imperium Romanum , which had reached a climax in Latin with the works of Tacitus , in favor of biographical representation. While the Greek-speaking East was experiencing a real renaissance and the classical historiography was cultivated there, in the first half of the 3rd century Marius Maximus linked Suetonius and continued the emperor biographies to Elagabal . The ancient biography, which tried above all to describe the “character” of a person, followed different genre rules than the historiography and should therefore be carefully distinguished from this. While Suetonius had already taken into account relatively reliable sources such as files and literary representations as well as unsecured anecdotes of obscure provenance to a considerable extent, Marius Maximus is said to have surpassed him in this regard. None of this had much to do with historiography in the true sense of the word. Even in the 4th century, however, the work of Maximus was apparently popular reading among the Roman senators. Ammianus Marcellinus , the last great Latin historian of Rome, could only disdain the readers of Marius Maximus around 390 and remarked in this regard: “Some shy away from learning like poison, but are attentive and eager readers of Juvenal and Marius Maximus while they are in their bottomless indolence not to touch other books than this. "

The author of the Historia Augusta knew the imperial biographies Suetons (as well as those of Marius Maximus) and tried to formally continue this work, which ended with the biography of Emperor Domitian . The basic scheme is therefore:

  1. Prehistory to the accession to the throne.
  2. Reign and personality, with no separation of public and private life.
  3. Death, any abuse or honor.

However, the Suetonian pattern of representation (for example with regard to the chronological and property-based structure) is adhered to rather superficially; the closest relationship is given in the vita Pii . The Viten show a clear pro-senatorial basic tendency , for example the rejection of emperors who were raised by the military and who did not come from the senatorial leadership or who pursued a policy directed against them. It is noteworthy that the author also treated usurpers and designated emperors (the so-called secondary vites ) in addition to regular emperors .

The style of the various vitae was also analyzed with the help of computer-aided investigations, but the findings are partly ambivalent or contradicting, which may be due to the compilation of the source material by the author. The differences between the biographies are often viewed as rather minor, although rhetorical elements play a greater role in the vitae ascribed to Pollio and Vopiscus. In a more recent statistical study, however, Burkhard Meißner emphasized the incoherent character of many Viten. According to Meißner, an explanation would be that when the Historia Augusta was written, older material was often only superficially adopted.

Author's intention

Research has repeatedly asked about the cui bono - the more one concerned oneself with the Historia Augusta , the more puzzling the author's intention appeared. There is a widespread view that the fiction of the six different authors from Constantinian times served to enable anonymous to criticize Christianity, which around 390 had finally become the state religion in the Roman Empire , and explicitly tolerance on the part of the Christian emperors towards the pagans to demand. In fact, the anonymous portrays some - but by no means all - pagan emperors (such as Marcus Aurelius , Severus Alexander or Aurelian ), sometimes as brilliant models. As a reason, it is usually assumed that the author created a contrast image to the now Christian emperors with this stylistic device wanted to.

Johannes Straub called the work a “pagan historical apologetics” and said in summary: “The Historia Augusta is a Historia adversus Christianos”. The numerous scandal stories in the various Viten, however, make an assessment of the Historia Augusta as an exclusive propaganda pamphlet at least appear questionable. Ernst Hohl already remarked in this regard: "A pathetic piece of work is and will remain the book of lies of the so-called Scriptores, and if the cause of paganism had to resort to such weapons, then it deserved its downfall". Straub had tried to resolve this contradiction in a study from 1952 to the effect that although the anonymous person represented a pagan-senatorial basic position, his primary intention was to entertain and not to teach. At the same time he wanted to prove his erudition in a playful and sometimes joking way. This would suggest, among other things, that the appropriately trained readers may well have known the works from which the anonymous used modified quotations. In other cases the fictions are quite obvious and completely transparent. In fact, the numerous literary allusions in the Historia Augusta require a well-educated reading public; the work will probably also have been circulated in a smaller group who were interested in biographically oriented works.

Against a mainly anti-Christian tendency speaks among other things that in the Vita of Severus Alexander also his tolerance towards Christianity is emphasized. This may be interpreted in such a way that the anonymous imagines such an ideal ruler (because Severus Alexander is made about this in the Historia Augusta , see below). Likewise, there are relatively few explicit references to Christianity in the Historia Augusta - which is by no means always sharply polemicized. Several researchers therefore also deny the thesis of an anti-Christian tendency in the Historia Augusta . Ronald Syme even stated that the anonymous author was not seriously committed to paganism at all. Rather, the author, who apparently loved word and number games, wanted to entertain the (appropriately trained) reader above all in a humorous way, parody traditional historiography and biographical collections with the numerous clever forgeries and thus provide the reader with intellectual pleasure.

Alan Cameron has denied that the author had any particular intention in writing the work. According to Cameron, the Anonymous only wanted to continue the emperor's biographies of Marius Maximus and was a rather frivolous and ignorant person who did not want to use her real name in a work that in the end consisted more of fiction than history.

It is therefore not possible to determine with absolute certainty which goal the Anonymous, who is very likely to be associated with the environment of the pagan Senate aristocracy of Rome, ultimately pursued. However, there is some evidence that you are doing the author of the work an injustice if you call him a “bad historian”. Much evidence suggests that the anonymous person had no intention of offering a truthful report, but rather wanted to play a literary game with the reader and deliberately pursued fiction.

“Bad and good emperors” - the pair of opposites Elagabal and Severus Alexander

Bust of Elagabal

What is striking is the author's intention to highlight certain emperors as role models and to draw others in the darkest possible colors. This tendency is not always evident, but is clearly evident in the representation of the emperors Elagabal (ruled 218–222) and Severus Alexander (ruled 222–235).

Elagabal, whose real name was Varius Avitus Bassianus or, after taking office, was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus , came to power at the age of only 14. In the Historia Augusta he is referred to as the "last of the Antonines ". His reign is rated rather critically both in most sources and by modern ancient historians. The emperor's religious policy was particularly controversial, but his way of life was also sometimes sharply criticized (especially in the pro-senatorial sources, see e.g. Cassius Dio ). In the Historia Augusta , this image, which has been handed down in early sources, is painted even more pointedly. If the first part of his vita still contains historically useful information, in the second part Elagabal is presented topically as a lecher, tyrant and immoral. He despises the gods and only indulges in worldly pleasures. Elagabal's actions, which were primarily aimed at all sensual pleasures, are described by the anonymous in detail and almost with relish. For example, he surrounded himself with prostitutes, locked his drunken friends and let tame lions and bears into the room. The emperor was dressed entirely in silk, which was viewed as oriental decadence. He occasionally served his guests with opulent dishes. In some cases, the exaggerated explanations can also be seen as an analogy; for example, the statement that Elagabal formed a “women's senate” should be viewed as an accusation regarding the great influence of women at court. In keeping with his dissolute lifestyle, the emperor's shameful end is described in the Historia Augusta : He was slain, his body dragged through the streets. They supposedly wanted to throw it into a sewer, but then threw the dead man into the Tiber.

Bust of Severus Alexander in the Louvre .

As the complete opposite of Elagabal, his successor Severus Alexander is portrayed in the Historia Augusta . Cassius Dio, who worked under Severus Alexander and was favored by him, described him very positively. Anonymus went a step further: In the Historia Augusta , Severus Alexander is stylized as an ideal emperor and thus forms a sharp contrast to Elagabal. Even his birth, which supposedly took place in a temple ( which was tellingly dedicated to Alexander the Great ), was accompanied by heavenly omens. His religious tolerance (see above) is recognized as well as his piety towards traditional Roman cults. The Vita of Severus Alexander is the longest in the Historia Augusta and represents a single panegyric praise of the emperor, who is described as exemplary (although some mistakes made by the emperor are listed in chapter 64). After all, he had surrounded himself with wise advisers, respected the Senate and acted in agreement with it. In a certain way, the Vita thus represents a mirror of princes . Jacob Burckhardt commented that Severus Alexander appeared “like a true Saint Ludwig of antiquity”. In doing so, the Anonymous speaks nicely about military defeats as against the Sāsānids . It is also not clear that the emperor was increasingly losing control.

Truth content of the Historia Augusta

The Historia Augusta stands in the tradition of the imperial biographies Suetons, but the content and tendency of the vitae poses considerably more problems to modern research. Although the author of the Historia Augusta calls for a love of truth at various points, in the tradition of Suetons he shows an extremely pronounced tendency towards gossip and anecdotes. Therefore, the veracity of his statements is often rated as low by research. Occasionally, the Historia Augusta approaches the novel by describing unbelievable episodes. It is fitting that none of the documents cited in the Historia Augusta can be proven to be genuine; The minutes of the Senate in the vita Commodi (18f.) may represent an exception , but this is also not undisputed. According to general research opinion, all of the letters quoted are falsifications, and the speeches are free anyway. In the case of several otherwise not attested personal names (some of which are cited as "sources" for the representation of the anonymous), the assumption of a conscious construction is also obvious, as in the case of Aelius (Junius) Cordus , who is mentioned several times, but is most likely fictional.

In total, over 100 people are only mentioned in the Historia Augusta and are accordingly suspect as fictions. This question is more difficult to answer with other authors, as in the case of Onasimo . Well-known names in the vitae are sometimes changed. Often it is difficult to decide whether the representations are correct or not due to the skillful manipulation. In order to disguise his representation, the anonymous often invokes his (alleged) sources, such as Marius Maximus , the fictional Cordus or representations from the Ulpische Bibliothek (Trajan's library). It is not uncommon for a source to be named only in order to contradict its statement, which further complicates an assessment.

The problem of using the Historia Augusta as a historical source is ultimately due to the fact that the truthfulness of individual statements often cannot be clarified at all. The early vitae (up Elagabal, excluding the Life of Macrinus and Nebenviten low emperors and usurpers) contain important material, which is also quite comes from good sources, but also more or less obvious misinformation with braided were. The credibility of the depiction for the emperors of the 3rd century, however, continues to decline sharply compared to the early Viten. But here too, in the midst of incorrect or distorted information, correct information can be found that comes from good sources - for example the reference in the Vita of Maximus and Balbinus that the two principes held the office of Pontifex Maximus together in the six-emperor year . Some details in the Viten are sometimes confirmed by more recent finds, so in retrospect to the Germanic campaigns of Maximinus Thrax (see Harzhorn event ).

Even in “bad” vitae, there may occasionally be useful information, which, however, often cannot be clearly distinguished from incorrect information. The vita of Censorinus , on the other hand, is apparently entirely fictional, as are several other vitae of the so-called thirty tyrants (thirty usurpers who are said to have risen in the time of Gallienus); similarly, the historical truth content in the life of Emperor Tacitus, for example, is very low overall. There are numerous anachronisms in general. For example, the title vir illustris is mentioned, but this is only documented in this form under Valentinian I. Other terms are also used that did not come into use until the late 4th or early 5th century. Several soldier emperors are viewed very negatively by the author due to their origin and are often depicted topically. There are also several factual errors or mistakes (as in the early vitae). In general, the so-called secondary vitae represent a special problem, as fictional material is woven into them to an even greater extent - even though the vita of Lucius Verus contains valuable material and therefore Syme did not count among them. Jörg Fündling sums up: “Contrary to all expectations of the source criticism, the level of the Viten sinks the closer they come to the alleged beginning, instead of the richness of detail and reliability increasing; the reports from the 2nd century beginning with the vH [vita Hadriani] make up the part of the corpus recognized as particularly valuable. "

In principle, one should always treat all information that is only available in the Historia Augusta with the greatest skepticism. Mommsen's verdict is still valid:

"[...] [One is] in constant embarrassment and uncertainty when using this dangerous and indispensable book."

- Theodor Mommsen, in: Hermes 25 (1890), p. 281

Mommsen had therefore already requested a comprehensive comment. But it was only in the last few years that several comments on individual imperial servants appeared, and more are being planned. These and the various (initially held in Bonn) colloquia by specialist scholars on the Historia Augusta are intended to enable a better assessment of the work in the future.

The sources of the Historia Augusta

The lost work of Marius Maximus probably served as the main source for the early imperial servants (up to Elagabal) . Marius Maximus apparently saw himself as a continuer of Suetons and wrote twelve biographies of the emperors from Nerva to Elagabal in the 3rd century. He is quoted several times in the early Viten der Historia Augusta ; In research, these vitae are usually rated as significantly more reliable than the later ones.

It must, of course, remain open whether the name Marius Maximus was sometimes just a foil to label a certain source; especially since the vitae of Marius Maximus have not been preserved and a cross comparison is therefore not possible. Judging from the few fragments of his work, Marius Maximus also seems to have been far more inclined to digress than Suetonius. So Ronald Syme and later Timothy D. Barnes advocated another, unknown author as a good main source in the early vitae. This unknown biographer (therefore called Ignotus by Syme ) was superior to Marius Maximus in terms of reliability and wrote a collection of biographies that extended into the time of Caracalla . Some researchers accept this approach while others, including Anthony Birley , reject it. In the early vitae (such as Hadrian's life) there is valuable information, some of which is not mentioned in literary sources, but which is confirmed, for example, by epigraphic evidence. Nevertheless, these vitae must also be used with appropriate caution.

The author of the Historia Augusta was apparently an educated man who relied not only on Latin but also on Greek authors. The author apparently used Herodian , who wrote an (albeit often unreliable) imperial story after Marcus (180 to 238), and probably also the monumental Roman story of Cassius Dio , who described the period up to 229 and which Herodian also used at least in part. Another possible source is Asinius Quadratus , who wrote in Greek . For the 3rd century, Dexippus was very likely the main source (perhaps mediated via an intermediate source), while the anonymous also used material from (and only indirectly documented) Enmann's imperial history on the In the 4th century several breviaries were based. Eunapios of Sardis, on the other hand, is no longer regarded as the main source for the late Vitus today. Aurelius Victors Caesares were also used, as well as the anonymous possibly used the autobiographies of the emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus . It remains to be seen whether the Annales of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus , which are now completely lost , were also used, but there is much to suggest that a similar work of senatorial stamping was processed by Anonymous in the later Viten.

According to Syme and other researchers, the author also used the history of Ammianus Marcellinus , but this is viewed more skeptically in recent research. In older research, the attempt, which today is regarded as a failure, was made to reconstruct an author who served as a source in the early vitae and wrote an annalistic historical work, i.e. did not write any biographies.

David Rohrbacher assumes that the author of the Historia Augusta primarily relied on Enmann's imperial history and the corresponding breviary. He has enriched this framework with information from the biographies of Marius Maximus, the imperial history of Herodian and the chronicle of Dexippus. In addition, there was an unknown late antique source whose descriptions show similarities with other works (such as Zosimos and Johannes Zonaras ).

Dating

Following Dessau's thesis, the majority of modern research assumes that the author of the text knew and used Caesare's work by Aurelius Victor , which was only written around 360 (e.g. in the Vita of Septimius Severus ), while the earliest safely attested allusions to the Historia Augusta from the early 6th century: They can be found in Jordanes , who seems to have taken them from the (now lost) Historia Romana of the younger Symmachus . This also defines the possible period of origin of the Historia Augusta , but a more precise dating is complicated by the question of which goals the Anonymous pursued with his writing or how the various references to references from the 4th / 5th century. Century (e.g. from legal texts) are to be interpreted.

Theodosius I.

Norman Baynes thought of an emergence in the reign of Emperor Julians , whereby the Historia Augusta in connection with Julian's "pagan restoration" should serve the interests of the emperor; In this context, the "ideal emperor" Severus Alexander reflects facets of Julian's personality (insofar as one believes the Julian-friendly sources). In more recent research, however, also due to allusions to the content, a dating shortly after the death of Emperor Theodosius I in the year 395 is usually considered or the early 5th century is advocated. Ronald Syme also assumed that Anonymous used the work of Ammianus Marcellinus and therefore dated the time of writing around or shortly after 395. In contrast, more recently, Adolf Lippold has again taken the view that one could have a single pagan author or author who appeared around 330. Editor accept, but with which he could not prevail.

The current communis opinio assumes that the author wrote the Viten at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century and was not a Christian. This theory dominates research today, although there are divergent research opinions regarding the intent of anonymus (see the previous section “ Content and tendency ”). However, there are also isolated approaches to dating back to around 500.

The beginning of Hadrian's life in the Historia Augusta in the manuscript Budapest, Egyetemi Könyvtár, Cod. Lat. 7 (around 1460/1470)

Lore history

The work was apparently hardly known in the Middle Ages , although it was probably read in about Carolingian times and then again in the 12th century. In early humanism , however, it was often used and in this way developed a not inconsiderable effect. The tradition depends on two classes of manuscripts. One is a manuscript from the Lorsch Monastery ( BAV, Codex Palatinus Latinus 899 , called P, written in the first half of the 9th century, probably in Northern Italy), on which several later manuscripts depend.

In addition, there is a second class, the so-called Σ manuscripts from the early 14th century, which, compared to P, offer a whole range of text rearrangements, but in places deviating readings from the original common with P as well as from another lost one Have preserved handwriting and are therefore important for the constitution of the text alongside P despite their late date . Since the incorrect and incomplete Codex P was intensively edited by proofreaders, one of whom (Pb) had access not only to the original from P but to another lost manuscript, these readings are also of importance for the constitution of the text in individual cases. To determine the original reading of P, which is often no longer recognizable, it is also necessary to refer to an early copy of P, the Codex Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek , Class, written in insular minuscule in the Fulda monastery around 830 . 54 can be used.

The beginning of the work is presumably lost, likewise the vitae between 244 and 253, only fragments of Valerian's vitae have been handed down, part of the vita of Gallienus is also lost (see above in the chapter on the original scope ). The manuscripts apparently go back to a late antique uncial manuscript as an archetype via a model by P from the time of the Carolingian Renaissance . The editio princeps , published by the humanist Bonus Accursius from Pisa, was published in 1475 in Milan in the second volume under the title IN HOC CODICE CONTINENTVR CAIUS SUETONIVS TRANQVILLVS DE .XII. CAESARIBVS. AELIVS SPARTIANVS. IVLIVS CAPITOLINVS. AELIVS LAMPRIDIVS. TREVELLIVS POLLIO. FLAVIVS VOPISCVS. EVTROPIVUS. ET PAVLVS DIACONVS. DE REGVM AC IMPERATORVM ROMANORVM VITA. (Vol. 1, fol. 5 v) published edition by source authors on Roman imperial history under the title: IN HOC CODICE CONTINENTVR VITAE DIVERSORVM PRINCIPVM ET TYRANNORUM A DIVO HADRIANO VSQUE AD NVMERIANVM A DIVERSIS SCRIPTORIBEVS COMPOSITA. (Vol. 2, fol. 5r). The printing goes back to the manuscript Rome (Vatican City), BAV, Vat. Lat. 5301 of the manuscript class P. Casaubonus published a separate work edition in 1603, to which the common title of the work, which he conceived based on Vita Taciti 10, 3, goes back to .

Editions / translations

expenditure

  • Ernst Hohl (Ed.): Scriptores Historiae Augustae . 2 volumes, Teubner, Leipzig 1965.

Translations

  • Ernst Hohl (translation and introduction), Johannes Straub (foreword), Elke Merten and Alfons Rösger (commentary): Historia Augusta. Roman rulers . 2 vol.
    • Volume 1, Artemis, Zurich and Munich 1976, ISBN 3-7608-3568-6 (German translation with a detailed introduction and a useful short comment).
    • Volume 2, Artemis, Zurich and Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7608-3637-2 .
  • Anthony R. Birley (editor and translator): Lives of the Later Caesars: the first part of the Augustan history . Penguin Verlag , London a. a. 1976, ISBN 978-0-14-044308-0 (several reprints; English translation of the Viten up to Elagabal).
  • André Chastagnol (editor and translator): Histoire Auguste . Robert Laffont, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-221-05734-1 (bilingual edition Latin / French with detailed introduction and comments).
  • David Magie (editor and translator): Scriptores Historiae Augustae . 3 vols., Harvard University Press / Heinemann, Cambridge / Mass. and London 1967 (first 1921ff .; bilingual edition Latin / English in the Loeb Classical Library collection ; online at LacusCurtius ).

literature

  • Andreas Alföldi , Johannes Straub (ed.): Antiquitas . Row 4. Contributions to Historia Augusta research. Habelt, Bonn 1964ff. (important collection of essays).
  • Timothy D. Barnes : The Sources of the Historia Augusta. Latomus, Brussels 1978, ISBN 2-87031-005-6 .
  • Giorgio Bonamente et al. (Ed.): Historiae Augustae Colloquia. Nova series . Edipuglia, Bari 1991ff. (Publication of the results of the more recent colloquia with current literature).
  • Hermann Dessau : About time and personality of the Scriptores historiae Augustae. In: Hermes 24, 1889, pp. 337-392 ( online at Gallica ).
  • Albrecht Dihle : The emergence of the historical biography (= session reports of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class. 1986,3). Winter, Heidelberg 1987, ISBN 3-533-03869-6 , esp. Pp. 34-36; Pp. 78-80.
  • Jörg Fünding: Commentary on Hadriani's Vita of Historia Augusta (Antiquitas. Series 4, Contributions to Historia Augusta Research. Ser. 3, Commentaries). Habelt, Bonn 2005. ISBN 3-7749-3390-1
  • Klaus-Peter Johne : Emperor's biography and Senate aristocracy. Studies on the dating and social origin of the Historia Augusta . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1976.
  • Klaus-Peter Johne: On the historical picture in the Historia Augusta. In: Klio 66, 1984, pp. 631-640.
  • Adolf Lippold : The Historia Augusta. A collection of Roman imperial servants from the time of Constantine . Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07272-1 .
  • David Rohrbacher: The Play of Allusion in the Historia Augusta. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison (Wisconsin) 2016, ISBN 978-0-299-30600-7 .
  • Andrea Scheithauer: Kaiserbild and literary program. Investigations into the tendency of the Historia Augusta . Lang, Frankfurt a. M. 1987, ISBN 3-8204-9927-X .
  • Ronald Syme : Ammianus and the Historia Augusta. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1968.
  • Ronald Syme: Emperors and Biography. Studies in the Historia Augusta . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1971.
  • Ronald Syme: Historia Augusta Papers. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1983, ISBN 0-19-814853-4 .
  • Mark Thomson: Studies in the Historia Augusta. Latomus, Brussels 2012, ISBN 978-2-87031-278-0 .

Web links

text

  • Bill Thayer (Text of the 1921 Loeb Classical Library edition, English and Latin)
  • Bibliotheca Augustana and Latin Library (each text of the edition Scriptores Historiae Augustae, ed. E. Hohl, Leipzig 1927/55, digitized by Jean-Luc Brazeau, Montreal; edition of the Bibl. Aug. with revisions by Ulrich Harsch)
  • Wikisource (Latin, incomplete)
  • Intratext (Eulogos 2007)
  • Histoire Auguste , French translation by Philippe Remacle, Paris 1844–47; partly also as a text-linguistic edition with bilingual text view, among others, in: Itinera Electronica, Löwen 2008

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Hermann Dessau, About time and personality of the Scriptores historiae Augustae . In: Hermes . Volume 24, 1889, pp. 337-392.
  2. ↑ See Theodor Mommsen: Die Scriptores Historiae Augustae , in: Hermes 25 (1890), pp. 228-292. ( Online at DigiZeitschriften ).
  3. ^ Arnaldo Momigliano: An Unsolved Problem of Historical Forgery: the Scriptores Historiae Augustae , in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 17 (1954), p. 22ff.
  4. ^ Research overview in Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie , p. 11ff. See also Klaus-Peter Johne: Historia Augusta , in: Der Neue Pauly , Vol. 5 (1998), Col. 637-640. A not unimportant exception is Adolf Lippold , who, following Mommsen's hypothesis, stuck to a creation in Constantinian time, see the explanations in the dating section.
  5. ↑ See Markus Sehlmeyer: Ernst Hohl and the Historia Augusta. In: Markus Sehlmeyer, Uwe Walter, Unaffected by any upheaval? The ancient historian Ernst Hohl between the German Empire and the early GDR. Heidelberg 2005, pp. 69-87.
  6. ↑ See Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie , pp. 105ff .; on the urban Roman tendency see also ibid., p. 148ff. Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , pp. 176ff, attempted a more precise characterization .
  7. ↑ See Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie , pp. 141ff.
  8. ^ Quote from Vita Aureliani 2.2. See also Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , pp. 2f., 192f.
  9. ↑ See Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , p. 110f.
  10. ↑ See the articles in Hartwin Brandt , Giorgio Bonamente (ed.): Historiae Augustae Colloquium Bambergense (HAC X). Atti dei Convegni sulla Historia Augusta . Bari 2007, p. 183ff. (Festy), p. 305ff. (Ratti).
  11. ↑ Peter Lebrecht Schmidt , see Markus Sehlmeyer: History images for Pagans and Christians: Res Romanae in the late antique breviaries . Berlin 2009, p. 303f.
  12. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The lacuna in the Historia Augusta , in: Historia-Augusta-Colloquium 1972/74 . Bonn 1976, p. 55ff.
  13. ↑ Jörg Fündling: Commentary on Hadriani's Vita from the Historia Augusta . 2 volumes, Habelt, Bonn 2006, ISBN 978-3-7749-3390-3 (= Antiquitas. Series 4: Contributions to Historia Augusta research. Series 3: Comments; Vol. 4.1), p. 10. See also Karl-Heinz Stubenrauch: Composition problems of the Historia Augusta . Dissertation, Göttingen 1982.
  14. ↑ See Albrecht Dihle: The emergence of the historical biography. Heidelberg 1987, esp. Pp. 34-36; Pp. 78-80; Albrecht Dihle: The Greek and Latin Literature of the Imperial Era. From Augustus to Diocletian . Munich 1989, pp. 355-359, especially pp. 355f .; Pp. 483-493, esp. Pp. 485-489.
  15. ↑ In the 2nd century, Appianos and Arrianos , among others, and in the 3rd century Cassius Dio , Herodianos and Dexippos wrote historical works in the classical tradition.
  16. ↑ Michael von Albrecht : History of Roman Literature offers a general overview . Vol. 2, 3rd edition Munich 2003, pp. 1087ff.
  17. ↑ Ammian 28,4,14; Translation by Otto Veh ( The Roman Empire Before Fall . Zurich-Munich 1974).
    Ammianus, himself actually a Greek, wrote again a comprehensive Latin historical work around 395, after the Latin historiography according to Tacitus had apparently only concentrated on the writing of brief historical abstracts, so-called breviaries . But Ammianus could no longer find a worthy continuer, at least not one that would last us. Ammianus was continued by Sulpicius Alexander , for example , but his histories have just as little been preserved as the other Latin historical works in the classical tradition, which began in the 5th / 6th centuries. Century, like the work of the younger Symmachus. The tradition of classical historiography died out in the west in the early 6th century, while in the Greek east it continued into the early 7th century.
  18. ↑ See generally Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie , especially p. 66ff.
  19. ↑ The study by PJ Gurney and LW Gurney: Authorship attribution in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae , in: Literary and Linguistic Computing 13, No 3 (1998), pp. 133-140, suggests more than one author. In contrast, other studies confirm that the work is by only one author; see, for example, Ian Marriott: The Authorship of the Historia Augusta: Two Computer Studies , in: Journal of Roman Studies 69 (1979), pp. 65-77. Marriott's methods have been criticized by David Sansone, but he also shares the view that the work was written by an author (David Sansone: The Computer and the Historia Augusta: A Note on Marriott , in: Journal of Roman Studies 80 (1990), Pp. 174-177).
  20. ↑ For example Michael von Albrecht, History of Roman Literature , Vol. 2, p. 1103.
  21. ↑ Burkhard Meißner: Computer-assisted investigations into the stylistic uniformity of the Historia Augusta , in: Giorgio Bonamente, Klaus Rosen (ed.): Historiae Augustae Colloquium Bonnense . Bari 1997, pp. 175-215 (with further literature), summarized on pp. 214f.
  22. ↑ Brief overview from Adolf Lippold: Historia Augusta , in: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 15 (1991), Sp. 687–723, here Sp. 690–695.
  23. ↑ Johannes Straub: Pagan history apologetics in Christian late antiquity . Bonn 1963, quotation p. 188. Against Straub cf. the explanations in Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , p. 137ff. as well as Alan Cameron , review of Straub in: Journal of Roman Studies 55 (1965), p. 240ff.
  24. ↑ Ernst Hohl: About the origin of the Historia Augusta , in: Hermes 55 (1920), pp. 296-310, quotation p. 310.
  25. ^ Johannes Straub: Studies on the Historia Augusta . Bern 1952, p. 15. Somewhat different Straub, Heidnische Geschichtsapologetik in der Christian Spätantike , p. 187, where Straub assumed “entertainment and instruction” as the goal of the anonymous.
  26. ^ Straub, Foreword , in: Hohl, Römische Herrschergestalten , Vol. 1, p. XII.
  27. ↑ Cf. Straub, foreword , in: Hohl, Römische Herrschergestalten , Vol. 1, pp. XVIIIf.
  28. ^ David Rohrbacher: The Play of Allusion in the Historia Augusta. Madison (Wisconsin) 2016, pp. 16ff.
  29. ↑ See David Rohrbacher: The Play of Allusion in the Historia Augusta. Madison (Wisconsin) 2016, pp. 85f.
  30. ↑ cf. vita Alexandri Severi 22.4; 29.2; 43.6f.
  31. ↑ See also Peter Kuhlmann: Religion and Memory. The religious policy of Emperor Hadrian and its reception in ancient literature . Göttingen 2002, especially p. 99f.
  32. ↑ Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , p. 140: “Nothing demonstrates a pagan of sincere faith.” The anonymous interest in temples and rituals arises rather from other interests, such as an antiquarian one.
  33. ↑ See for example Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , 203ff .; Syme, Emperors and Biography , pp. 260ff.
  34. ^ Alan Cameron: The Last Pagans of Rome . Oxford / New York 2011, pp. 743ff.
  35. ↑ Cf. the brief remarks by Straub, foreword , in: Hohl, Römische Herrschergestalten , Bd. 1, p. Xff .; XXXVI. In summary, see also the brief overview in Hartwin Brandt: Reflections on the tendency of the Vita des Maximus and Balbinus , in: Giorgio Bonamente (ed.): Historiae-Augustae-Colloquium Genevense (= HAC II). Bari 1994, pp. 53-62, here p. 53f.
  36. ^ Ultimus Antoninorum ( vita Heliogabali 1,7). The designation as Antonine seems erroneous, but this is explained by the fact that the emperors of the Severan house had constructed a fictitious connection to Marcus Aurelius.
  37. ↑ Michael Pietrzykowski: The religious policy of the emperor Elagabal , in: Rise and decline of the Roman world . Vol. II 16, 3. Berlin / New York 1986, pp. 1806-1825, with older literature. Theo Optendrenk is more special: The religious policy of Emperor Elagabal as reflected in the Historia Augusta . Bonn 1969.
  38. ↑ See now the comprehensive commentary by Samuel Christian Zinsli: Commentary on the Vita Heliogabali of the Historia Augusta. Bonn 2014.
  39. ↑ On this conveyed image and the background cf. Gottfried Mader: History as Carnival, or Method and Madness in the Vita Heliogabali , in: Classical Antiquity , No. 24,1 (2005), p. 131ff.
  40. ↑ Cf. especially vita Heliogabali 18ff., Where the extravagance of the emperor perceived by the author of the HA is emphasized and he is placed on a par with Caligula and Nero (ibid. 33).
  41. ↑ vita Heliogabali 4; see. Straub, Preface , in: Hohl, Römische Herrschergestalten , Vol. 1, p. XXVIII.
  42. ↑ vita Heliogabali 17.
  43. ↑ See Ronald Syme: The Reign of Severus Alexander , in: Syme, Emperors and Biography , p. 146ff. Karl Hönn offers a generally outdated, but readable overview: Source studies on the lives of Heliogabalus and Severus Alexander . Leipzig 1911.
  44. ↑ See vita Alexandri Severi 5.1; 13.5.
  45. ↑ On the idealized representation of the emperor in general, see also the explanations in Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , pp. 133–135.
  46. ^ Jacob Burckhardt: The time of Constantine the Great . 2nd edition Leipzig 1880; ND 1990, p. 17.
  47. ↑ David Potter: The Roman Empire at Bay . London / New York 2004, p. 163ff.
  48. ↑ Cf. for example Straub, foreword , in: Hohl, Römische Herrschergestalten , Vol. 1, p. XXXI. Glen Bowersock offers an interesting comparison : The Aethiopica of Heliodorus and the Historia Augusta , in: G. Bonamente, F. Paschoud (eds.): Historia Augusta Colloquium Genovense . Bari 1994, pp. 43-52.
  49. ↑ General information: Ronald Syme: Bogus authors , in: Syme, Historia Augusta Papers , pp. 98-108.
  50. ↑ See Syme, Emperors and Biography , pp. 271ff.
  51. ↑ General Hartwin Brandt: Facts and Fictions - the Historia Augusta and the 3rd century , in: K.-P. Johne et al. (Ed.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire and their reception in modern times . Stuttgart 2006, pp. 11-23.
  52. ↑ Vit. Max. Et. Balb. 8.1. This information, unique within the literary tradition, is confirmed by contemporary inscriptions (e.g. ILS 496).
  53. ↑ On this Ernst Hohl: Vopiscus and the biography of the emperor Tacitus , in: Klio 11 (1911), S. 178ff., 284ff.
  54. ↑ Cf. also in general Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , p. 111ff.
  55. ↑ See Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , pp. 176f .; general Syme, Emperors and Biography , pp. 54-77 (Chapter 4: The Secondary Vitae ).
  56. ↑ Jörg Fündling: Commentary on Hadriani's Vita from the Historia Augusta . 2 volumes, Habelt, Bonn 2006, ISBN 978-3-7749-3390-3 (= Antiquitas. Series 4: Contributions to Historia Augusta research. Series 3: Comments; Vol. 4.1), p. 6.
  57. ↑ For general information on the sources of the Historia Augusta, see Barnes, The Sources of the Historia Augusta .
  58. ↑ See Ronald Syme: Not Marius Maximus , in: Hermes 96 (1968), pp. 494-502; Syme, Emperors and Biography , pp. 30ff. (Chapter 3: Ignotus, the Good Biographer ).
  59. ↑ Anthony R. Birley : Marius Maximus, the Consular Biographer , in: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Roman Welt , Vol. II 34, 3 (1997), pp. 2678-2757.
  60. ↑ For this in detail Jörg Fündling: Commentary on the Vita Hadriani of the Historia Augusta . 2 vols. Bonn 2006.
  61. ↑ See also Klaus-Peter Johne: Die Historia Augusta , in: Klaus-Peter Johne (Ed.): The time of the soldiers emperors . 2 vols. Berlin 2008, pp. 45ff.
  62. ^ David Rohrbacher: The Play of Allusion in the Historia Augusta. Madison (Wisconsin) 2016, pp. 135ff.
  63. ↑ So among others Ernst Kornemann : Emperor Hadrian and the last great historian of Rome . Leipzig 1905, who equated him with Lollius Urbicus, the son of Quintus Lollius Urbicus ; on the presumed scope of the work, ibid., p. 79ff. On the other hand, see the brief summary in Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta , p. 92.
  64. ^ David Rohrbacher: The Play of Allusion in the Historia Augusta. Madison (Wisconsin) 2016, pp. 11-14 (with evidence).
  65. ↑ Getica 15, 83ff.
  66. ^ Norman Baynes: The Historia Augusta. Its date and purpose . Oxford 1926. Klaus Rosen has recently worked out several references to Julian, see Klaus Rosen: Kaiser Julian in the Historia Augusta , in: Hartwin Brandt, Giorgio Bonamente (ed.): Historiae Augustae Colloquium Bambergense (HAC X). Atti dei Convegni sulla Historia Augusta . Bari 2007, p. 319ff.
  67. ^ Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta .
  68. ^ Lippold, The Historia Augusta. A collection of Roman imperial servants from the time of Constantine , where there is also a comprehensive overview in the form of Lippold's article in the Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity .
  69. ↑ Einhard, for example, seems to have known Hadrian's life, cf. Rosamond McKitterick : Charlemagne . Cambridge 2008, p. 17.
  70. ↑ Cf. digitized version of the BAV from Vat. Pal. lat. 899 ; Digitized version of the Heidelberg University Library from Vat. Pal. lat. 899 ; Bibliography of the BAV on Vat. Pal. lat. 899
  71. ↑ Cf. digitized version of the Staatsbibl. Bamberg des Bambergensis Class. 54 ; Ernst Hohl: Contributions to the text history of the Historia Augusta , in: Klio 13, 1913, p. 258ff. and p. 387ff .; Ernst Hohl: The tradition of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae . In: Hermes 29, 1894, pp. 393-416; Alfred Klotz: Contributions to the text history and text criticism of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae. In: Rheinisches Museum 78, 1929, pp 268-314 Alfred Klotz, contributions to the textual history ... .
  72. ^ Alfred Klotz: Contributions to the text history and text criticism of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae. In: Rhine Museum 78, 1929, S. 268-314 S. 269-279 comes through error analysis to the result that between the common archetype of the handwriting classes in a uncials written Majuskelhandschrift , and P a Hyparchetyp must be switched on (S. 279).
  73. ↑ Cf. Gianni Ballistreri: "Bonaccorso da Pisa". In: Dizionario Biografico degli ItalianiDizionario Biografico degli Italiani , vol. 11, Rome 1969, sv .
  74. ↑ The colophon reads: Informatum est hoc Opus per Magistrum Philippum de Lauagna anno a Nativitate Christi .M.CCCC.LXXV. Vndecimo Kalendas Ianuarias Mediolani (vol. 2, fol. 107v). See digitized version of the Bavarian State and University Bibl. Munich .
  75. ↑ Historiae Augustae scriptores sex.Drovart, Paris 1603
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 19, 2008 .