The Later Roman Empire

Description

A Roman historian chronicles Rome on the brink of collapse

Ammianus Marcellinus was the last great Roman historian, and his writings rank alongside those of Livy and Tacitus. The Later Roman Empire chronicles a period of twenty-five years during Marcellinus’ own lifetime, covering the reigns of Constantius, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I, and Valens, and providing eyewitness accounts of significant military events including the Battle of Strasbourg and the Goth’s Revolt. Portraying a time of rapid and dramatic change, Marcellinus describes an Empire exhausted by excessive taxation, corruption, the financial ruin of the middle classes and the progressive decline in the morale of the army. In this magisterial depiction of the closing decades of the Roman Empire, we can see the seeds of events that were to lead to the fall of the city, just twenty years after Marcellinus’ death.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.The Later Roman EmpirePreface
Introduction
Further Reading
Family Tree of Constantine the Great
Introductory Note

The Later Roman Empire
Book 14
Book 15
Book 16
Book 17
Book 18
Book 19
Book 20
Book 21
Book 22
Book 23
Book 24
Book 25
Book 26
Book 27
Book 28
Book 29
Book 30
Book 31

Notes on the Text
Note on Officials and their Titles
Notes on PersonsDates of Emperors
Geographical key
Maps
General Map
Monuments of Rome
Map A: Gaul, Germany, and the Rhine
Map B: The Danube, Italy and Thrace
Map C: The East and Persia
Map D: Asia Minor

Ammianus Marcellinus was the last great Roman historian, continuing the histories of Tacitus from AD 96 down to his own day. The first thirteen of his thirty-one books are lost: the remainder describe AD 354 – 378.

Walter Hamilton translated Plato’s Symposium, the Gorgias, Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII for Penguin Classics.

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill is Professor of Classics at Reading University. His books include Suetonius: the Scholar and his Caesars.GB