Breviary (historical work)
The breviary , including the epitome , is a brief Latin historical work. It is a concise, standalone work. In addition, there is also the text type (also) known as epitome from excerpts from ancient works.
In Roman literature , several breviaries were written , especially in late antiquity . The works of Florus and, in late antiquity, those of Aurelius Victor ( Caesares , from whom the Epitome de Caesaribus does not come from), Eutropius ( Breviarium ab urbe condita ) or Rufius Festus are examples. The mentioned late antique Breviators of the 4th century apparently used a common main source for the imperial period , the so-called Enmann Imperial History .
The flourishing of the Latin breviary literature in the 4th century AD is probably also due to the taste of the public, because obviously extensive knowledge of history could no longer be assumed, but also to the flattening of history in the Latin-speaking area after the 2nd century AD. A major exception is the extensive and demanding work of Ammianus Marcellinus , otherwise the easier-to-read breviaries dominated the Latin West at this time. After Ammianus (or shortly before, see Virius Nicomachus Flavianus ), however, extensive Latin historical works emerged again (see Sulpicius Alexander and Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus ), which broke off again from the late 5th to the early 6th century. Classical historiography , however, was to continue into the early 7th century in the Byzantine Empire , where it was cultivated continuously.
literature
- W. den Boer : Some minor Roman Historians. Brill, Leiden 1972, ISBN 90-04-03545-1 .
- Richard W. Burgess : Principes cum Tyrannis. Two Studies on the Imperial History and its Tradition. In: The Classical Quarterly. 43, 1993, pp. 491-500, doi : 10.1017 / S0009838800040039 .
- David Rohrbacher: The Historians of Late Antiquity. Routledge, London et al. 2002, ISBN 0-415-20458-5 .
- Jörg Schlumberger : The Epitome de Caesaribus. Investigations into pagan historiography of the 4th century AD (= Vestigia . 18). CH Beck, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-406-04788-2 (also: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 1972).
- Markus Sehlmeyer : Historical images for pagans and Christians. Res Romanae in the late antique breviaries (= contributions to antiquity 272). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-022008-7 (At the same time: Rostock, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2008: Historical images in the upheaval from pagan to Christian empire. ), (Overview work on the ancient breviaries ).
