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HERODIANUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 381 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERODIANUS , See also:

Greek historian, flourished during the third See also:century A.D. He is supposed to have been a Syrian Greek. In 203 he was in See also:Rome, where he held some See also:minor posts. He does not appear to have attained high See also:official See also:rank; the statement that he was imperial See also:procurator and See also:legate of the Sicilian provinces rests upon conjecture only. His See also:historical See also:work ('Hpw&avoi rijs µEra Maprcov fiaacXetas taropuov ig3XIa &Krub) narrates the events of the fifty-eight years between the See also:death of See also:Marcus Aurelius and the See also:proclamation of Gordianus III. (180-238). The narrative is of See also:special value as supplementing See also:Dion See also:Cassius, whose See also:history ends with See also:Alexander See also:Severus. His work has the value that attaches to a See also:record written by one chronicling the events of his own times, gifted with See also:ordinary See also:powers of observation, indubitable candour and See also:independence of view. But while he gives a lively See also:account of See also:external events—such as the death of See also:Commodus and the assassination of Pertinaxthe See also:barbarian invasions, the spread of See also:Christianity, the See also:extension of the See also:franchise by See also:Caracalla are unnoticed. The See also:dates are often wrong, and little See also:attention is paid to See also:geographical details, which makes the narrative of military expeditions beyond the See also:borders of the See also:empire difficult to understand. Herodian has been accused of See also:prejudice against Alexander Severus. His See also:style, modelled on that of See also:Thucydides and unreservedly praised by See also:Photius, is on the whole pure, though somewhat rhetorical and showing a fondness for Latinisms.

Extensive use has been made of Herodianus by later chroniclers, especially the " Scriptores historiae Augustae " and See also:

John of See also:Antioch. His history was first translated into Latin at the end of the 15th century by See also:Politian. The most See also:complete edition is by G. W. Irmisch (1789-1805), with elaborate indices, but the notes are very diffuse; See also:critical See also:editions by I. See also:Bekker (1855), L. Mendelssohn (1883) ; see also C. Dandliker.

End of Article: HERODIANUS

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