Abstract
The article seeks to highlight the initial phase of the military confl ict of the Roman Empire and new Persian of the Kingdom from the point of view of the representatives of the so-called “small” pagan historiography of the fourth century AD. Analyzes historical works of Eutropius, Rufi us Festus, Sextus Aurelius Victor, author of “Epitome of the Caesars”. Their writings drew a summary of the Roman tradition of historical thought by demonstrating the method with a brief and succinct characterizations of historical events. The subjects that most interested readers of their works concerned mainly wars, rulers and the army. Therefore, the most acute problem of historiography of that time was the problem of Rome’s foreign policy, especially in its Eastern direction. In breviaria Festus and Eutropius and Aurelius Victor biographies, and author of “Epitome of the Caesars” historical outline of the confl ict is stated very consistently, and some of the events we learn only from the texts of these works. The specifi city of this literature was in its historical and didactic orientation. Breviary and biography were conceived as a kind of instruction for the Roman emperors, designed to demonstrate on historical examples of the past, how to act rulers in their activities. Historians have shown reception of the short and capacious characteristic of historical events, generally political, and have given a moral and ethical assessment to the main characters of the Roman history. All the authors wrote about the Roman-Persian wars of the 3rd –4th centuries AD, with a strong national pride came from the idea of absolute confidence in the primacy of Rome over the whole world. The reasons why Rome is taking over more and more areas and States do not require any detailed explanation-it is simply a way of its existence and survival among other peoples.
Keywords
Roman Empire, Persia, Eutropius, Rufi us Festus, Sextus Aurelius Victor, “small” Roman historiography.
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