Ammianus and the Heroic Mode of Generalship in the Fourth Century ad

Abstract

Ammianus Marcellinus is one of our most important sources for late Roman warfare, and his significance in this regard has long been recognized. This recognition has even extended to his treatment of commanders, emperors and otherwise. Many have focused on Ammianus’ characterization of Julian, with an especial focus on his narrative and rhetorical strategies (Rohrbacher, Ross), especially with respect to Julian’s apparent heroism (Lendon, Rohrbacher). What there have been few of, however, are examinations of Ammianus’ views on generalship contextualized into wider thinking on the art of war and generalship in the late Roman World. The focus of this chapter is the place of heroic generalship in open combat, for Keegan exemplified by Alexander the Great, a figure often held up as a model by or for Julian, and an approach to command which Lendon has argued persisted from the fourth century through the sixth. The analysis straddles two threads: historiographical when it comes to examining how Ammianus characterizes the generals that feature in his accounts of combat; and historical when we attempt to situate his accounts in the wider context of late Roman thinking on war exemplified here by Vegetius.