Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (Historiography of Rome and Its Empire, 15)

This book argues that Herodian uses an orderly and coherent historiographical form to reconfigure and explicate a most chaotic period of Roman history. Through patterning he offers a distinctive interpretative framework in which successive reigns and individual emperors need to be read in a dovetailed way. Contents Historiography of Rome and Its Empire Series Acknowledgements Texts, Translations, and Abbreviations Introduction 0.1 Herodian’s Historiographical Method 0.2 Herodian and Ancient Historiography 0.3 Studies on Herodian’s History 0.4 Methodology and Structure of the Book 1Character Introductions 1.1 Commodus 1.2 Pertinax 1.3 Didius Julianus 1.4 Pescennius Niger 1.5 Septimius Severus 1.6 Clodius Albinus 1.7 Geta and Caracalla 1.8 Opellius Macrinus 1.9 Elagabalus and Severus Alexander 1.10 Maximinus Thrax and His Rivals 1.11 Conclusion 2Accession Stories 2.1 “On That Day I Was Both Man and Emperor” (1.5.5) 2.2 “We Have Come Here to Offer You the Empire” (2.1.9) 2.3 “They Announced That the Imperial Throne Was up for Sale” (2.6.4) 2.4 Parallel Accessions: Niger and Septimius Severus 2.4.1 “It Is the Romans Who Are Summoning Me” (2.8.2) 2.4.2 “Let Us Be the First to Take Rome” (2.10.9) 2.5 “His Sons Succeeded Him to the Rule” (3.15.8) 2.6 “What Is the Good of Noble Birth?” (5.1.5) 2.7 Continuity and Variation 2.7.1 Elagabalus and Severus Alexander 2.7.2 Maximinus 2.7.3 Gordian I 2.7.4 The Last Accessions 2.8 Conclusion 3Warfare and Battle Narratives 3.1 Establishing Paradigms 3.1.1 Marcus’ Military Ideal 3.1.2 Commodus 3.1.3 Pertinax’s Counterexample 3.2 “But This One Man Destroyed Three Reigning Emperors” (3.7.8) 3.2.1 Severus against Julianus 3.2.2 Severus against Niger 3.2.3 Severus against Albinus 3.3 Severus’ Eastern Campaign (AD 198) 3.4 Severus’ British Expedition 3.5 Caracalla’s Portrait Refined? 3.6 Macrinus’ ‘Fighting’ 3.7 Severus Alexander 3.7.1 The Persian War 3.7.2 The German Crisis 3.8 Maximinus’ Military Exploits 3.8.1 The German Expedition 3.8.2 Maximinus vs. Gordian I 3.8.3 The Siege of Aquileia 3.9 Conclusion 4Trans-Regnal Themes 4.1 The Emperor’s Surroundings: Parents, Advisers, and Retinue 4.2 The Topos of Goodwill (εὔνοια) 4.3 Appearance, Staging, and Performance 5The Emperor’s Finale 5.1 Marcus’ Exemplary Death 5.2 Commodus: The Murder of a Tyrant 5.3 Virtue and Military Anarchy: Pertinax’s Death 5.4 The Downfall of Cowardly and Negligent Emperors: Julianus, Niger, and Albinus 5.5 The End of Severus and His Sons 5.5.1 Septimius Severus 5.5.2 Geta and Caracalla 5.6 A Pattern Verified and Enlarged: Macrinus’ Idleness and Luxury 5.7 Elagabalus’ Fatal Excessiveness 5.8 The Fall of Severus Alexander: Character and Surrounding 5.9 The End of Maximinus Thrax and Gordian I 5.10 Military Disorder and Mutual Rivalry: The Deaths of Maximus and Balbinus 5.11 Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Index Locorum Index Nominum et Rerum "In the process of recording the history of the Roman Empire, from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession of Gordian III, Herodian makes his characters respond to the same situations in similar or different ways. This book shows that each reign in Herodian's History is creatively mapped onto ever-recurring narrative patterns. It argues that patterning is not simply decorative in Herodian's work but constitutes a crucial conceptual and methodological tool for writing interpretative history. Herodian deserves credit as an original and independent author. A careful consideration of the formulaic nature of his historiography indicates that there is more artistry in his composition than had previously been discerned"-- Provided by publisher