Abstract
The article attempts to analyze, taking into account the current state of historical sources and on the basis of modern historiography, the personality of the author of “Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani”, the structure and sources of his work. However, based on the current state of the sources, it is impossible to make any unambiguous conclusion about the identity of the author of “Breviary” and his religious position. The circle of Festus’ source base is largely traditional for authors of that time. Nevertheless, on the examples of the historian’s selection of his sources and original author’s inserts, the thesis that Fest does not have an original historical concept is refuted. “Breviary” of the Festus focuses mainly on the “event” time, where the main landmarks are the only consecutive list of education provincial and description of the external policy of Rome in the East, so it combined the two principles of presentation – geographical (education provinces and the extension of the state) and foreign policy, with a focus on those wars that Rome waged in the East. “Breviary”, despite its apparent simplicity and superfi ciality, allows you to answer the question of a special, inherent only to this historian’s view of Roman history. Festus’ work largely carried a political and propaganda load, emphasizing the Patriotic trend in the offi cial Latin historiography of the time. The historian’s description of numerous successful examples of conquests from the past of Rome invited contemporary emperors, and in particular Valens II, to a more aggressive foreign policy in the East, which refl ected the propaganda goal of his work.
Keywords
Festus, Eutropius, Ammianus Marcellinus, “small” Roman historiography, Late Roman Empire.
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