History

Title(s):
  • History
  • Historia
    (Historia, History)
Period covered:
At least 3rd c.
Language:
Latin
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (classicizing history)
  • Secular history (breviarium)
Remarks:
The history may have covered the Empire or the whole of Roman history. Its title was probably not Roman history, as usually stated. Symmachus is often claimed to be a common source of the chronicle of Marcellinus Comes and Jordanes, or at least an important source for the Romana of Jordanes (e.g. Ensslin 1949; Hartke 1951; Zecchini 1993, 2010; Festy 2003; Vitiello 2015), but this does not survive close scrutiny (Jakobi 2012; Van Hoof and Van Nuffelen 2020). Neither do the source speculations of Vitiello 2015.
 
Edition - Translation:
  • P. Van Nuffelen, L. Van Hoof (2020) The fragmentary Latin histories of Late Antiquity (A.D. 300-650): Edition, translation and commentary. Cambridge.
Fragments:
  • Jordanes, Getica 83-88
  • Anecdoton Holderi 1
Bibliography:
  • W. Ensslin (1949) Des Symmachus Historia Romana als Quelle für Jordanes (Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Philologisch-Historische Klasse, 3). Munich.
  • M. Festy (2003) 'De l'Epitome de Caesaribus à la chronique de Marcellin: L'histoire romaine de Symmaque le Jeune'. Historia 52: 251-255.
  • A. Gallonier (1996) 'Anecdoton Holderi ou Ordo generis Cassiodororum: Introduction, édition, traduction et commentaire'. Antiquité tardive 4: 299-312.
  • M. Gusso (1995) 'Contributi allo studio della composizione e delle fonti del Chronicon di Marcellinus Comes'. Studia et documenta historiae et iuris 61: 557–622.
  • W. Hartke (1951) Römische Kinderkaiser: Eine Strukturanalyse römischen Denkens und Daseins. Berlin.
  • R. Jakobi (2012) Adnoten zu den Quellen der Chronik des Marcellinus Comes.” Hermes 140: 126–29.
  • B. Luiselli (1975) 'Note sulla perduta Historia Romana di Q. Aurelio Memmio Simmaco'. Studi Urbinati 49: 529-535.
  • T. Mommsen (1882) Iordanis Romana et Getica (Monumenta Germaniae historica: Auctores antiquissimi, 1). Berlin.
  • F. Paschoud (2015) Histoire Auguste 4,1. Vies des deux Maximins, des trois Gordiens, de Maxime et Balbin. Collection des Universités de France. Paris: 17-45.
  • E. Schwartz (1983) 'Jordanès et l’Histoire Auguste'. In: Bonner Historia Augusta Colloquium 1979-1981. Bonn: 275–284.
  • M. Vitiello (2015) 'Maximinus Thrax, general of Severus Alexander and victor over the Persians? Some considerations concerning the sources of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus’ Roman history'. Histos 9: 199–219.
  • M. Vitiello (2008) 'Last of the Catones: A profile of Symmachus the Younger'. Antiquité Tardive 16: 297–315.
  • M.A. Wes (1967) Das Ende des Kaisertums im Westen des Römischen Reichs. ’s Gravenhage.
  • G. Zecchini (2010) 'L’Historia Augusta da Memmio Simmaco a Paolo Diacono'. In: Historiae Augustae Colloquium Genevense in honorem F. Paschoud septuagenarii, ed.L. Galli Milic - N. Hecquet-Noti. Bari: 229–238.
  • G. Zecchini (1993) Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica. Rome.