ARCA (Classical & Medieval Texts, Papers & Monographs) S.
1 primary work • 2 total works
Book 17
Almost all of the very little we know of Menander comes from the preface of his History. Having studied the law, Menander did not become an advocate, preferring instead to become a 'man-about-town'. He was saved from this life of degradation by the accession of the poetry and history enthusiast Emperor Maurice, and the rewards that being a writer could now bring. Whether his History was commissioned by the Emperor is not known, but he was certainly given some high-level encouragement. Menander's portrayal of Justin is more even-handed than most, but his approval of Tiberius is much more effusive, especially with regard to his Persian policy. Overall, Menander's main interest seems to have been Roman relations with foreign peoples - Perians and Avars, particularly - and his depiction of the Persian state as being equal to Rome was prophetic, both empires disappearing less than a century after his writing.
No 10
Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire
by R. C. Blockley
Published 1 June 2012
This volume is the much larger companion to Roger Blockley's similarly-titled monograph, published in 1981 (ARCA 6). The earlier volume gave a commented conspectus of the fragments, and essays on the individual historians. In vol. II the texts themselves are printed, with English translations and historiographical notes. Included also is a correlation of Blockley's order with the older numbering of Muller, Dindorf and Niebuhr, and indices of names, places, quotations and citations. This work, with the earlier monograph, has become a standard for the increasingly important study of the later Roman Empire.