He was innate astir 325‑330, probably at Antioch (the probability hinges in whether he was the recipient of the living letter to the Marcellinus from either a fellow citizen of Antioch). A date of his demise is unknown, however he must use lived till 391, as he mentions Aurelius Victor as the city prefect for that year. A living books of his worthful history handle a years 353‑378; the act is another time referred to by the Latin title when Res Gestae, a usage better avoided, notwithstanding, since it leads to confusion by using the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

He was "a soldier and a Greek" he tells us, & his enrollment among a elect protectores domestici (domestic guards) shows that he was of noble birth. He entered a army at an early age, whilst Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis in Roman Mesopotamia, and magister militiae.

He returned to Italy by owning Ursicinus, whilst he was recalled by Constantius, & accompanied him on the expedition against Silvanus the Frank, who got been forced per unjust accusations of his enemies into proclaiming himself emperor inside Gaul. By having Ursicinus he went twice to the East, & barely escaped by using his life from either Amida or even Amid (modern Diyarbakir), when it was taken per Persian king Shapur II. While Ursicinus misused his professional & a favour of Constantius, Ammianus seems to develop shared his downfall; however under Julian the Apostate, Constantius's successor, he regained his position. He accompanied this emperor, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, inside his campaigns against a Alamanni and the Persians; after his dying he participate in the retreat of Jovian as far as Antioch, in which he was living while a conspiracy of Theodorus (371) was discovered & cruelly put down.

withwithin time he settled in Rome, in which, at an advanced age, he wrote (in Latin) a history of the Roman empire from either the accession of Nerva (96) to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople (378), thus forming the continuation of the function of Tacitus. This history (Res Gestae Libri XXXI) was originally around thirty-a single books, however a number 1 thirteen come misplaced. A living 18 books handle a time from either 353 to 378. As the whole it has been considered highly valuable, existence the clear, comprehensive & impartial account of cases by a coeval of warriorlike honesty, independent judgement & wide reading. Recent studies own, notwithstanding, shown a rhetorical power in his histories. Rather totally ancient historiographer, he did non possibly attempt to develop the history in the modern style: he got the heavy political & heathen religious agenda to pursue, & he contrasted Constantius II by having Julian to the previous's constant disadvantage.

Edward Gibbon judged Ammianus as "an accurate and faithful guide, who composed the history of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which usually affect the mind of a contemporary." Ammianus was the pagan, and once he marginalises Christianity repeatedly in his account, i am reminded that making Christianity a state religion did non produce wholly Romans Christians. His style is typically coarse, typically grandiloquent & pleasantly obscure, now and then possibly journalistic within tone, however andy skinner's foreign origin & his military life & expert instruction part tell you this.

Farther, a operate existence meant for public recitation, occasionally rhetorical embellishment was necessary, possibly at a numbers of simplicity. These are the striking fact that Ammianus, though the agency soldier, gives first-class pictures of social & economic problems, & inside his attitude to the non-Roman peoples of the empire he is far extra broad-minded than writers such as Livy and Tacitus; his digressions on the various countries he had visited come peculiarly interesting.

Within his description of a Empire —a exhaustion by excessive taxation, a fiscal ruin of the bourgeoisie, the progressive decline in the morale of the army— i call for a explanation of its fall prior to a Goths twenty years after his demise.

Reference
Latin text & facing English translation unremarkably available in the Loeb Classical Library, 1935‑194Using numerous reprint.