05-04-2006, 08:04 AM
Sorry for this a bit off-topic question, but I'm in a bit of a stop point on my novel, and I thought you gang would be more than knowledgeable...
While I go to Livius to check, does any of you know of any good biography about Valens out there that you can tell me about?
I have the works of Ammianus Marcellinus, but as he's mostly a military historian, I am not sure he told anything relevant about Valentis daily life...
Specifically, I am searching info on his legal status (was he married? I can't find it anywhere) and the characters on the court around him...
I know the orator and senator Themistius was a close friend of his, and I guess Libanius, as part of the senate of Antioch, was involved as well...
Lastly, how many of Julian's retainers and acquaints would still be around in Valentis court considering they were probably pagan and Valens was such a Arian "activist"?
I have the Goths in Antioch (an Embassy sent by Fritigern and Alaviv to Valens), and I was thinking on switching sides for the second third of the chapter (so the POV is Goths, Romans, and finally Goths at Hadrianopolis) but I find myself a bit short on data...
thanks!
While I go to Livius to check, does any of you know of any good biography about Valens out there that you can tell me about?
I have the works of Ammianus Marcellinus, but as he's mostly a military historian, I am not sure he told anything relevant about Valentis daily life...
Specifically, I am searching info on his legal status (was he married? I can't find it anywhere) and the characters on the court around him...
I know the orator and senator Themistius was a close friend of his, and I guess Libanius, as part of the senate of Antioch, was involved as well...
Lastly, how many of Julian's retainers and acquaints would still be around in Valentis court considering they were probably pagan and Valens was such a Arian "activist"?
I have the Goths in Antioch (an Embassy sent by Fritigern and Alaviv to Valens), and I was thinking on switching sides for the second third of the chapter (so the POV is Goths, Romans, and finally Goths at Hadrianopolis) but I find myself a bit short on data...
thanks!
Episkopos P. Lilius Frugius Simius Excalibor, :. V. S. C., Pontifex Maximus, Max Disc Eccl
David S. de Lis - my blog: <a class="postlink" href="http://praeter.blogspot.com/">http://praeter.blogspot.com/
David S. de Lis - my blog: <a class="postlink" href="http://praeter.blogspot.com/">http://praeter.blogspot.com/