When was Ammianus Marcellinus born and where did he originate?
Ammianus Marcellinus was born around 330 in the East Mediterranean, possibly Syria or Phoenicia. He belonged to a noble family of Greek origin and called himself Graecus.
Ammianus Marcellinus was born around 330 in the East Mediterranean, possibly Syria or Phoenicia. He belonged to a noble family of Greek origin and called himself Graecus.
Ammianus Marcellinus wrote Latin history covering the Roman empire from the accession of Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The surviving eighteen books cover the specific period from 353 to 378.
The sole surviving manuscript from which almost every other copy is derived is the ninth-century Carolingian text Vatican lat. 1873. This copy was produced in Fulda from an insular exemplar.
Modern scholarship describes Ammianus Marcellinus as a pagan who was tolerant of Christianity yet critical of sectarian strife within state-backed faith. He commented that no wild beasts were so hostile to men as Christian sects generally are to one another.
Amminanus Marcellinus provides a detailed description of an earthquake and tsunami that devastated the metropolis and shores of eastern Mediterranean on the 21st of July 365. His report accurately describes the characteristic sequence of the earthquake, sea retreat, and sudden incoming giant wave.