Marcus Junianus Iustinus

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One page of the Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum in the Florence manuscript, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 66.21, fol. 1r (late 11th century)

Marcus Iunianus Iustinus , also known as Justinus or Justin , was a Roman historian. It is not known exactly when he lived. Mostly the 2nd or 3rd century is assumed, although some researchers also considered the time around 390 (such as Ronald Syme ).

The beginning of an Italian translation of the Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum in an incunable from 1477

Nothing is known of his life story, except (as can be seen from the preface to his work) that he did not come from Rome itself, but stayed there for some time. He is the author of a historical work in Latin (Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum or Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV) includes the 44 books and according to his statement in the preface a collection of the most important passages of the extensive Historiae Philippicae of Pompey Trogus from the time of Emperor Augustus was .

The work of Trogus is lost, but the prologi or summaries of the text by Pliny the Elder and others have been preserved. The main theme at Trogus is the rise and fall of the various great empires. A key question in research is to what extent Justinus deviated from the original material in his “flower harvest” and inserted his own positions. He certainly shortened the representation of the Trogus or summarized several passages. The work of Justinus, which is only about a sixth to a tenth as extensive as the work of Trogus, was probably aimed at an audience that was also interested in non-Roman history. It should appear to serve a similar purpose as the Livy - Epitome of Florus , namely an extensive work (like that of Trogus) make the readers more accessible and to give them an insight into the subject.

Although, from today's point of view, Iustinus often found factual errors (among other things due to chronological errors and strong selection processes) and he was less a historian than an author interested in rhetoric, his work contains a lot of valuable information. The language style is largely clear and easy to understand, sometimes at the expense of presenting more complex contexts. Linguistically, Iustinus was probably partly based on Livius.

The work was widely used in the Middle Ages , when the author was sometimes mistaken for Justin Martyr . The Epitome was first published in print around 1470 in Rome and Venice.

Translations

  • Otto Seel (transl.): Pompeius Trogus. World history from the beginning to Augustus . Zurich 1972.
  • John C. Yardley, Waldemar Heckel : Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus. Vol. I, Books 11-12: Alexander the Great . Oxford 1997.

literature

  • Otto Seel : A Roman World History. Studies on the text of the epitome of Justinus and on the history of Pompejus Trogus. H. Carl, Nuremberg 1972 ( Erlanger Contributions to Linguistics and Art Studies 39, ISSN  0425-2268 ).
  • Ronald Syme : The Date of Justin and the Discovery of Trogus. In: Historia . 37, 3, 1988, pp. 358-371.
  • John C. Yardley: Justin and Pompey Trogus. A Study of the Language of Justin's "Epitome" of Trogus. University of Toronto Press, Toronto et al. 2003, ISBN 0-8020-8766-3 ( Phoenix. Supplementary Volume 41).
  • John C. Yardley: What is Justin doing with Trogus? In: Marietta Horster , Christiane Reitz (Eds.): Condensing Texts - Condensed Texts . Stuttgart 2010, pp. 469-490.

Web links

Wikisource: Marcus Iunianus Iustinus  - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Remarks

  1. ^ Ronald Syme: The Date of Justin and the Discovery of Trogus . In: Historia 37 (1988), pp. 358-371. Yardley and Heckel ( Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus , p. 11f.) Hold, like many other researchers, to an earlier date. However, linguistic echoes are palpable in the work of Justin , which point to late ancient Latin, see the samples in Yardley, Justin and Pompeius Trogus , pp. 121, 123, 125, 138 and 144.
  2. ↑ See Yardley and Heckel: Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus , p. 11.
  3. ↑ On the presumed intention of Justin, cf. Yardley and Heckel: Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus , p. 15ff.
  4. ↑ Yardley and Heckel ( Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus , p. 17) describe him as not a good historian (In short, he is not a good historian ...) and tend to agree with the research opinion that he is more orator than historian .
  5. ^ Yardley and Heckel: Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus , p. 13.
personal data
SURNAME Justinus, Marcus Junianus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman historian
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century or 3rd century or 4th century
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century or 3rd century or 4th century