5.0 out of 5 stars
Late Rome's Greatest Historian, October 28, 2011
This review is from: Ammianus Marcellinus: Roman History, Volume II, Books 20-26 (Loeb Classical Library No. 315) (English and Latin Edition) (Hardcover)
Since there are so many of these darn things the review shall be divided into three sections. First, a brief description of the Loeb series of books and their advantages/disadvantages. Second shall be my thoughts on the author himself, his accuracy, as well as his style and the style of his translator. This is of course only my opinion and should be treated as such. The final part shall review what this particular book actually covers.
The Loeb series date back to the turn of the last century. They are designed for people with at least some knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are a sort of compromise between a straight English translation and an annotated copy of the original text. On the left page is printed the text in Greek or Latin depending on the language of the writer and on the right side is the text in English. For somebody who knows even a little Greek or Latin these texts are invaluable. You can try to read the text in the original language knowing that you can correct yourself by looking on the next page or you can read the text in translation and check the translation with the original for more detail. While some of the translations are excellent mostly they are merely serviceable since they are designed more as an aid to translation rather than a translation in themselves. Most of them follow the Greek or Latin very closely. These books are also very small, maybe just over a quarter the size of your average hardcover book. This means that you'll need to buy more than just one book to read a complete work. They are also somewhat pricey considering their size. The Loeb Collection is very large but most of the more famous works can be found in better (and cheaper) translations elsewhere. If you want to read a rarer book or read one in the original language then you can't do better than the Loeb Editions.
There are three volumes of Ammianus' surviving works. Ammianus is the Tacitus of the 4th Century. His work originally picked up where Tacitus left off but only the portion from 353-378 AD has survived. His work is easy to read, generally accurate, and filled with exciting events and interesting characters. Ammianus was a career soldier who was an active participant in many of the events he describes. He knew personally many of the people who's deeds he relates. The real hero of his book is the emperor Julian. Julian the Apostate is a very sympathetic character to modern minds, and Ammianus both liked and admired him. Further sources on Julian's campaigns include his own writings (
Volume I,
Volume II, and
Volume III), Zosimus' Historia Nova, and the remains of Eunapius in 'The Classicising Roman Historians.' Ammianus was the last great Latin historian. All of those other sources are in Greek. A better translation would probably be the Penguin one called
The Later Roman Empire, although the translation here is alright. The other Loeb editions are available
here and
here.
This volume covers Julian's rise to Augustus, his reign, and his campaign against the Persians. The entire volume of 6 books and 650 pages takes place over only 5 years, so this is a detailed look at the period. It also covers the death of Julian, the brief reign of Jovian, and the early years of Valentinian and Valens. Books 23, 24, and the first few chapters of 25 cover Julian's Persian Campaign. I know of no more detailed narrative of a Roman campaign unless it be Caesar's Commentaries on the
Gallic War,
the Civil Wars, and the
Alexandrian, African, and Spanish Wars.
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