An Exploration On The Effects On The Historiography Of Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus, who was born in Antioche and was one of the senators with Roman full citizenship, was the last classical writer of the late Roman Empire. As a descendant of Greece with the mother tongue of Greek, Ammianus studied Latin as his second langue. In his early years, Ammianus joined the Roman army and became the domesticus protector, who was in the charge of the Roman emperor. In the years of Constantius ?, Ammianus was sent to east to help Julian fight against Persians. He nearly died in the battle of Amida and later join in Julian's expedition to Persia. After the death of Julian, Ammianus accompanied Jovian to retreat to Antioche. After his retirement, he began to write his famous work Res Gestae, which began with Domitian's death in the year of AD96 and last to the battle of Adrianople in the year of AD378. Res Gestae was composed of 31 volumes, the first 13 volumes of which were lost. What of left of the work was the only 18 volumes which contain a history from AD353 to378.The introduction of the thesis will first introduce the basic information about Ammianus and his Res Gestae. The it will conclude research situations both domestic and international and will state the innovation of this thesis on the basis of the former researches.The main body will discuss the effects on Ammianus'historiography from four aspects. Firstly, it will study Ammianus'experience as a soldier. Secondly this thesis will focus on Ammianus'identity of pagan. The third part will emphasize on his worship of Julian and their common identity of pagan. The last part will introduce Ammianus'critism on the classical morality undone of the late roman empire.