Aurelius Victor

Sextus Aurelius Victor (ca. 320 – ca. 390) was an historian and politician of the Roman Empire.

Aurelius Victor was the author of a History of Rome from Augustus to Julian (360), published ca. 361. Julian honoured him, and appointed Aurelius prefect of Pannonia Secunda. Possibly he is the same person who was consul in 369, jointly with the son of Valentinian I, and the prefect of the city of Rome (389).

Works

Four small historical works have been ascribed to him on more or less doubtful grounds:

1. Origo Gentis Romanae
2. De Viris Illustribus Romae
3. De Caesaribus (for which Aurelius Victor used the Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte)
4. Epitome de Caesaribus (falsely attributed to Victor)

The four have generally been published together under the name Historia Romana, but the fourth piece is a rechauffé of the third. The second was first printed at Naples about 1472, in four tomes, under the name of Pliny the Younger, and the fourth in Strasbourg in 1505.

The first edition of all four books was that of Andreas Schottus (8 volumes, Antwerp, 1579). A recent edition of the De Caesaribus is by Pierre Dufraigne (Collection Budé, 1975).

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• H.W. Bird (1994) Aurelius Victor: De Caesaribus. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
• H.W. Bird (1984) Sextus Aurelius Victor: A Historiographical Study. Liverpool: Francis Cairns.
• W. den Boer (1972) Some Minor Roman Historians. Leiden: Brill.
• P. Dufraigne (1975) Aurelius Victor: Livre de Cesars. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
• D. Rohrbacher (2002) The Historians of Late Antiquity. London: Routledge.

See also

• Sirmium
• Sremska Mitrovica
• Syrmia
• Tetrarchy
• Praetorian prefecture
• Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
• Roman provinces
• Roman Empire

External links

• Liber de Caesaribus (Latin text)