Marius Maximus

Lucius Marius Maximus Perpetuus Aurelianus (* around 165, † around 230) was a Roman senator and author of historical biographies.

Life

Marius Maximus came from a senatorial family, probably from the Roman province of Africa . His father was Lucius Marius Perpetuus, Imperial Procurator of Lugdunensis and Aquitania . According to his career inscription , he began his military career as tribunus laticlavius in the legions III Italica and XXII Primigenia . In 193 Maximus was the legion of the Legio I Italica in the province of Moesia inferior (Lower Moesia ). At this time he joined Septimius Severus , who was finally able to prevail in the struggle for power in the empire ( second year of the four emperors ). Severus used him in various military commands during the civil war (for example before Byzantium against Pescennius Niger and at Lugdunum against Clodius Albinus ). Afterwards he was praetorical governor of the province of Belgica .

In 198 or 199 Marius Maximus held a suffect consulate . This was followed by consular legacies in the provinces of Germania inferior and Syria Coele (attested for 208); There are various documents for the last-mentioned station in papyri from Dura Europos . This was followed by proconsulates in the provinces of Africa (213-214 or 216-217) and for two years in Asia (during the rule of Caracalla ). In 217 he was appointed praefectus urbi by Macrinus and in 223 he held the ordinary consulate as cos. iterum . Like his contemporary Cassius Dio , he belonged to the top ranks of the Roman Empire. When he died is unknown. His son was Lucius Marius Maximus, who became consul in 232.

The emperor biographies of Marius Maximus

In research, the consular Marius Maximus has long been equated with an emperor's biographer of the same name. This Marius Maximus wrote in connection to Suetonius twelve Latin Emperor biographies of Nerva to Elagabalus , in research the exact number of biographies and the treated Kaiser is controversial. Maximus was obviously based on Sueton's style, but proceeded much more verbosely than Sueton's and probably used anecdotes and gossip stories even more in his work. The emperor biographies may have been accompanied by authentic files, probably in full length and not paraphrased, which, however, if it is true, completely contradicted the ancient historiographical tradition. The vagueness of the presentation was also the reason why the biography of Marcus Aurelius included two books and that of Septimius Severus even three ancient books.

The work enjoyed great popularity until late antiquity , although the last great Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, in his historical work written towards the end of the 4th century, expressed himself rather disparagingly about the emperor's biographies and their readers, the senators of Rome: “Shy erudition some like the poison, but are attentive and eager readers of Juvenal and Marius Maximus, while in their bottomless indolence they do not touch other books than this. ” However, only a few fragments have survived. The anonymous author of the Historia Augusta used the biographies as a source, who explicitly refers to Marius Maximus several times. Since this is also mentioned in Ammianus and in late antique scholias to Juvenal , its existence is considered certain in contrast to other names in the Historia Augusta . The early biographies in the very controversial Historia Augusta contain far more valuable material than the later ones , according to the general opinion of scholars. This is mostly attributed to the use of the emperor's biographies by Marius Maximus. However, it is very unclear whether every mention of Marius Maximus in the Historia Augusta actually refers to source material from his emperor's biographies.

Some ancient historians , above all Ronald Syme , have suspected another author to be a “good source” for the early emperor biographies in the Historia Augusta . This unknown author ( Ignotus ) wrote a collection of emperor biographies that reached as far as Caracalla . The anonymous author of the Historia Augusta took reliable material from this work and only used the anecdotal representation of Marius Maximus to spice up his description with piquant details. However, this view of Symes, who among others joined Herbert W. Benario and Timothy D. Barnes , contradicts numerous scholars, such as Jörg A. Schlumberger and Anthony R. Birley .

Several researchers also suspect that the anonymous author of the so-called Enmann Emperor's story referred to the biographies of Marius Maximus; this view is also questionable.

The fragments are collected in The Fragments of the Roman Historians (No. 101).

literature

• Anthony R. Birley : Marius Maximus, the Consular Biographer . In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World (ANRW). Vol. II 34.3, Berlin-New York 1997, pp. 2678-2757 (with detailed information).
• Michael Kulikowski: Marius Maximus in Ammianus and the Historia Augusta . In: Classical Quarterly 57, 2007, pp. 244-256.
• Klaus Sallmann : L. Marius Maximus. In: Klaus Sallmann (ed.): The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature, AD 117 to 284 (= Handbook of Ancient Latin Literature , Volume 4). CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X , pp. 53-56.
• Ronald Syme : Ignotus, the Good Biographer. In: Bonner Historia Augusta Colloquium 1966/1967. Bonn 1968, pp. 131–153.
• Ronald Syme: Not Marius Maximus. In: Hermes 96, 1968, pp. 494-502 (Ndr. In: Ders .: Roman Papers Vol. 2, Oxford 1979, pp. 650-658).
• Ronald Syme: Ammianus and the Historia Augusta . Oxford 1968 (Ndr. 2001).

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} CIL 6, 1450
2. ↑ Bengt E. Thomasson : Fasti Africani. Senatorial and knightly officials in the Roman provinces of North Africa from Augustus to Diocletian. Paul Åström, Stockholm 1996, ISBN 91-7042-153-6 , pp. 84 f.
3. ↑ Birley, Marius Maximus , p. 2683 and p. 2724ff.
4. ↑ Ammian 28,4,14; Translation by Otto Veh ( The Roman Empire Before Fall . Zurich-Munich 1974).
5. ^ Birley, Marius Maximus , pp. 2684ff.
6. ↑ Syme, Not Marius Maximus . See also Syme, Ammianus , especially p. 34ff. and p. 89ff.
7. ^ Overview in Birley, Marius Maximus , pp. 2710f.
8. ^ Opposite position in Birley, Marius Maximus , pp. 2711–2714.