The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus. II. Text, Translation and ... and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs 10) [Hardcover]

R.C. Blockley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an indispensable work which ... can be expected to increase the accessibility and encourage study of the historians concerned..." -- Phoenix 40 (1986) 118-20

Language Notes

Text: English, Greek, Latin (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 525 pages
• Publisher: Francis Cairns Publications (December 15, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0905205154
• ISBN-13: 978-0905205151
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,359,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Remains of the Best Late Roman Historians, October 7, 2011

By 

Stuart McCunn (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus. II. Text, Translation and ... and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs 10) (Hardcover)

This book contains the remains of the most important historians of the last century of Rome. It is greatly to be regretted that these works were lost. The little bit of good news is that there are a large number of fragments for these authors. For Eunapius and Olympiodorus there is also the work of Zosimus. Zosimus was a 5th (or 6th) Century historian who rather slavishly copied from better sources and he preserves what is in essence a summary of these two works. Another nice thing about this book is that it includes the text both in English and in Greek.

Eunapius was a pagan historian from the late 4th Century who wrote a history of the time from Claudius Gothicus to Honorius and Arcadius. Most of this material was also covered better by Ammianus Marcellinus only in Latin. Eunapius is opinionated and vehemently pagan, which made him an excellent source for Zosimus. There are 125 pages intact from Eunapius.

Olympiodorus was the second part of Zosimus. His books covered the early years of the 5th Century through to the 430s. There are only 57 pages left of Olympiodorus. It's extra unfortunate since I think he was probably the best historian of the lot. Zosimus cuts out about an eighth of the way through his work. So we'll never know what he really had to say. His period is interesting too since he covers the sack of Rome and the rise of Aetius.

Priscus was a late 5th Century Byzantine historian. His tale of his embassy to Attila is the key source on Hunnic history and culture. The embassy reads like an excellent novel filled with weird customs and political intrigue, which makes it all the more irritating that some stupid monk quit copying midway through. His work is both entertaining and insightful which makes it all the more sad that it has been mostly lost. Fortunately there are 155 pages worth of his material available.

Malchus wrote a history from the reign of Zeno to the death of Julius Nepos. There are 53 surviving pages of Malchus.

If you are looking for these texts then make sure you get the second volume. The first volume is a commentary on these texts while the second volume contains the texts themselves. They include a commentary too but it is not as detailed as the discussion in part one.