12-16-2014, 01:15 PM
Histories are full of oddities which either did or did not happen. As far as I am aware the only historian to mention the Battle of Vagabanta, where the Emperor Valens defeated Sharpur II and his Sassanids, is Ammianus. One could quite easily claim that this battle never happened because no EXISTING history mentions it, and in fact had Ammianus not mentioned it we would never have known that Valens had faced Sharpu in battle and been victorious.
But, look at the word I hightlighted above, EXISTING. We have a great problem with our historical knowledge of the past. And the problem is down to the fact that very few histories have survived the passage of time. Olympidorus, Eunapius, Cassiodorus all wrote histories now lost or found as fragments in other ancient historian's works. Who knows what priceless knowledge vanished along with those missing or now totally lost histories?
I myself lament the fact that the first 13 books of Ammianus have not survived the passage of time as they would have shed light on a period of Roman history before the reign of Constantine which is sadly lacking now.
But, look at the word I hightlighted above, EXISTING. We have a great problem with our historical knowledge of the past. And the problem is down to the fact that very few histories have survived the passage of time. Olympidorus, Eunapius, Cassiodorus all wrote histories now lost or found as fragments in other ancient historian's works. Who knows what priceless knowledge vanished along with those missing or now totally lost histories?
I myself lament the fact that the first 13 books of Ammianus have not survived the passage of time as they would have shed light on a period of Roman history before the reign of Constantine which is sadly lacking now.
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
