Sources
By far the most detailed and reliable source for the battle, and Julian's Gallic campaign (355-60) generally, is the Res Gestae (Histories) of Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary historian. Ammianus was a Greek career soldier who joined the army before 350 and served until at least 363. Enlisted as a protector (cadet senior officer), he served as a staff officer under magister equitum Ursicinus and then under Julian himself in the latter's Persian campaign. He had experience of the Gallic front as he was involved in the suppression of the revolt of Claudius Silvanus, the magister equitum (commander-in-chief) in Gaul (355). His personal experience in the contemporary Roman high command makes him a reliable and valuable source. However, his narrative reveals a passionate admiration of Julian and occasionally descends to the level of eulogy. He may at times interpret Julian's actions too favourably and those of Julian's enemies too negatively.
The late 5th century Byzantine chronicler Zosimus's Nova Historia deals with the battle, and Julian's Gallic campaign in a summary fashion and adds little to Ammianus' account. But Zosimus is useful because his account of the revolt of Magnentius (350-3) survives, unlike Ammianus', which was contained in the 13 lost books of his history.
The contemporary rhetorician Libanius delivered Julian's funeral oration in 363, whose text survives. This contains some details about the battle which are missing in Ammianus, which he presumably learnt from members of Julian's entourage. But because his oration was intended as a eulogy, not a historical narrative, his account of Julian's campaign is unreliable, and Ammianus' version is to be preferred where there is a contradiction.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Strasbourg
Famous quotes containing the word sources:
“The American grips himself, at the very sources of his consciousness, in a grip of care: and then, to so much of the rest of life, is indifferent. Whereas, the European hasn’t got so much care in him, so he cares much more for life and living.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Even healthy families need outside sources of moral guidance to keep those tensions from imploding—and this means, among other things, a public philosophy of gender equality and concern for child welfare. When instead the larger culture aggrandizes wife beaters, degrades women or nods approvingly at child slappers, the family gets a little more dangerous for everyone, and so, inevitably, does the larger world.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (20th century)
“I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)