Historischer Tatsachenbericht oder narratives Konstrukt? Die römischen Parther- und Perserfeldzüge des 2.-4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. in der Darstellung zeitgenössischer und spätantiker Autoren (original) (raw)

2021, Historischer Tatsachenbericht oder narratives Konstrukt? Die römischen Parther- und Perserfeldzüge des 2.-4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. in der Darstellung zeitgenössischer und spätantiker Autoren

Given the prominence that the conflicts with the Parthian and Persian (Sasanian) empires held in the perception of Roman contemporaries and later historians, it seems surprising that the literary sources that have survived on the Roman military campaigns into Mesopotamia are strikingly cryptic, formulaic, inaccurate, and contradictory. In this MA thesis, therefore, the works of six ancient authors in which detailed and - for the most part - complete accounts of the Roman campaigns against the Parthians/Persians between 114 and 363 AD have survived were systematically reviewed and closely analyzed (Cassius Dio, Herodian, Libanios, Historia Augusta, Ammianus Marcellinus, Zosimos). In the course of the study these six main sources were juxtaposed with shorter, less detailed or only fragmentary roman accounts (Arrian, Fronto, Florus) as well as the scattered notes from the late Roman and Byzantine tradition (Festus, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Gregory of Nazianzus, Zonaras). This diachronic and comparative approach enabled a comprehensive contextualization of the available accounts with regard to the literary strategies of the authors as well as the motif-historical and intertextual references between the depictions. Numerous literary strategies of the authors could be identified in the sources that were treated in this thesis. The motif-historical approaches proved fruitful in the analysis of the description of Roman campaigns against the Parthians/Persians (114-363 AD). The hypothesis of a unified literary tradition regarding the depiction of roman campaigns in imperial and late antique historiography could be further elaborated. Theoretical approaches of intertextuality, narratology and "close-reading" turned out to be efficient tools in the critical elaboration of roman and late antique authors - which ultimately lead to a better understanding of the authorial patterns of historical interpretation as well as the interdependence between the authors. This approach furthermore helped to shed light on some of the inconsistent, inaccurate and enigmatic passages we find in these texts. The study was able to show that the surviving accounts of roman and late antique authors exhibit strong traits of literary and narrative construction.