X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Augustan History


Augustan History

Anthony Birley has argued, for instance, that the lives up to Septimius Severus are based on the now-lost biographies of Marius Maximus, which were written as a sequel to Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars.

In the Quadrigae Tyrannorum, the author includes Firmus, said to have been a usurper in Egypt under Aurelian.

Others, such as Norman H. Baynes, abandoned the early 4th century date but only advanced it as far as the reign of Julian the Apostate (useful for arguing the work was intended as pagan propaganda).

In the Life of Probus (Ch.XXIV, 1-3), the author 'Flavius Vopiscus of Syracuse' states that the Emperor's descendants (posteri) fled from Rome and settled near Verona.

As early as 1890 Mommsen postulated a Theodosian 'editor' of the Scriptores' work, an idea that has resurfaced many times since.

Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus

Augustan History describes him as a ‘righteous person and he pitied Nerva when he became Roman Emperor in 96.


Lucius Plautius Lamia Silvanus

Augustan History claims that Fabia Orestilla was a descendant of Roman Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius through her father Fulvus Antoninus.


see also