Limitanei in Historia Augusta. Can Remarks About a Frontier Army Be Used to Date Historia Augusta?

Robert Sławomir Suski

Abstract


The Historia Augusta is the most enigmatic source of the late antiquity. Its author often departs from the truth, even on most salient issues. He not only suggests that he had written his work earlier than he actually did, but also assumes 6 different nickdonyms to confirm his version of events. Limitanei (the sold in of throntier districts) were mentioned in Historia Augusta four times. All these references, however, contain anachronistic terminology both for the times when, according to the author, they were to happen and the times of writing. In the article below I have analyzed these references. I believe that it allows us to better undr understanding of the author's mentality. One of themse references is dee paortant. For long time it was believed to be a testimony to the transformation of the Roman frontier army into a peasant militia. This interpretation seems to be rejected nowadays. Today this interpretatgment describes the use of land by limitanei soldiers, which is confirmed in codex sources only in the middle of the 5th century, it may serve as a hint regarding the time when the notes hmay have been taken. Meanwhile, in the presnt times most of scholars today believe that the Historia Augusta was w in the late 4th or early 5th century. While based on this reference, it is impossible to date the creation of the Historia Augusta in prove useful when starting a discussion about dating this source e again. remains a clue that allows us to start a discussion about dating this source again.

Keywords


Roman Army; Limitanei; Late Roman Empire; Roman historiography; Historia Augusta

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/rh.2020.49.97-115
Date of publication: 2020-12-21 13:05:18
Date of submission: 2019-03-28 21:48:24


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