Аммиан Марцеллин и Платоновский интеллектуализм: история и философия в поздней Римской империи IV века
Ammianus Marcellinus and Plato’s Intellectualism: History and Philosophy in the Late Fourth-Century Roman Empirie

Summary/Abstract: This article is the first attempt to examine the work of the pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus IV century through the prism of Platonic philosophy. Neither foreign nor domestic historiography, for all its vastness, has analyzed in any detail the questions of the influence on the historian of Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy, which was extremely popular in the era of the late Roman Empire. The main task of our research is to trace the influence of Plato’s philosophical heritage in the historical work of Ammianus Marcellinus “Res Gestae”, especially since he is practically the only one of all the pagan historians of the fourth century who describes his philosophical views in detail. It should be noted that Ammianus Marcellinus is the historian who attracts Plato’s philosophy not for a kind of “decoration” of his text, but who is undoubtedly well versed in it, knows its main provisions and concepts, and with their help, thereby “strengthens” his reflections and numerous digressions. Ammianus undoubtedly knows the central concept of all Platonic philosophy — the doctrine of ideas. On the basis of this, in the “Res Gestae” there is a rather detailed concept, based on the works of Plato and Plotinus, about the cycle, the rebirth of the human soul according to the law of Adrasteia. Ammianus correctly understands that the stars are the place where the soul dwells before its incarnation in the material, sensual world. And, finally, the historian quite accurately sets out the ideas about the individual spirits-the protectors of man, the daemons, given to him from birth. Of particular note is the image of the Emperor Julian, one of the central characters of the entire work. The main provisions of the philosophy of Plato and Plotinus are found precisely in those parts of the text “Res Gestae” where we are talking about the characteristics of this ruler, thereby revealing the already convincing image of the emperor as an adherent and zealot of exclusively pagan views. Therefore, all of the above facts, undoubtedly, give out in Ammianus Marcellinus an author who quotes and mentions Platonic philosophers not chaotically and pointlessly, but with a deep understanding of the meaning of this citation.

• Details
• Contents