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D.V. Kareev (Ivanovo) – The Biography of Emperor Trajan by Sextus Aurelius Victor: On the Issue of the Source Base of the Fourth-Century Latin Pagan Historians

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Abstract

For the first time in Russian historiography, an attempt has been made to analyze the sources that formed the basis of two Late-Roman historical works, “Liber de Caesaribus” and “Epitome de Caesaribus”, using the example of the biography of the Emperor Trajan. The first work is traditionally attributed to the fourth-century historian Sextus Aurelius Victor, while the second is anonymous and represents an excerpt from Victor’s books. Trajan’s biography, as presented in the “Liber de Caesaribus” and “Epitome de Caesaribus”, suggests that these are two abridged versions of a oncelarge historical work. A comparison of the two reveals a consistent tendency for “Epitome de Caesaribus” to complement and expand on the factual basis of “Liber de Caesaribus”. Therefore, Sextus Aurelius Victor’s source base is much more extensive and cannot be reduced to hypothetical sources such as the Kaisergeschichte. The historian made extensive use of the works of Greek writers, who provided a continuous narrative of Roman history until the last decades of the 3d century AD.

Keywords

The Late Roman Empire, Latin pagan historiography, Sextus Aurelius Victor, Cassius Dio, “Kaisergeschichte”.

Dmitriy V. Kareev

Ivanovo State University, Ivanovo, Russia

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