The Fall of Rome (Ammianus Marcellinus)

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Antioch. Ammianus came from a good family which had been excused from its obligation to serve in the local town council and was instead closely linked to the larger imperial administration (Kulikowski 103). As a young man, Ammianus served as Protector Domesticus, part of an elite group of soldiers who carried out a variety of special functions and often operated in close vicinity of the emperor himself (Kulikowski 103). These Protectors often went on in life to lead units of active troops. This is similar to how our society sends bright young soldiers to officer training school. Ammianus Marcellinus often was involved in high-profile missions, and eventually became part of the invasion of Persia, launched in 363 by the pagan emperor Julian (Kulikowski 103). Unlike most of Julian’s predecessors and successors, Julian rejected Christianity, in turn influencing Ammianus himself to reject the idea of Christianity. Ammianus’s military career came to an end following Julian’s ...

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beasts who have acquired the habit of stealing their prey through the negligence of the shepherds,” (Kulikowski 105). Kulikowski uses this quote to illustrate how classical people viewed these barbarians.
Giving a second view of Ammianus account is the book Rome’s Gothic Wars written by Michael Kulikowski. In Rome’s Gothic Wars, there is an explanation of how the Goths came into existence on the boundaries of the Roman world, how different Gothic groups deal with the enormous power of Rome just beyond their lands. The book illustrates how in two upsetting years, thousands of Goths entered the imperial provinces and destroyed the Romans’ Army. Contrasting other accounts of the same ...

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