Aurelius Victor

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

Aurelius Victor was the author of a short history of imperial Rome, entitled De Caesaribus and covering the period from Augustus to Constantius II. The work was published in 361. Under the emperor Julian (361-363), Victor served as governor of Pannonia Secunda, in 389 he became urban prefect, senior imperial official in Rome.^[1]

Works

Four small historical works have been ascribed to him. But only his authorship of De Caesaribus is securely established:

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 claims to be a reworking of the third (but isn't). The second was first printed at Naples about 1472, in four volumes, under the name of Pliny the Younger, and the fourth in Strasbourg in 1505.^[2]

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).

See also

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

Notes

1. Ammianus Marcellinus, xxi.10.
2. Chisholm 1911.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Victor, Sextus Aurelius". Encyclopædia Britannica 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• 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.

External links

• Works by Aurelius Victor in thelatinlibrary.com (Latin text)
• Works by Aurelius Victor in forumromanum.org (Latin, English and French texts)
• Sexti Aurelii Victoris quae vulgo habentur scripta historica, Friedrich Schroeter (ed.), 2 voll., Lipsiae, sumptibus Augusti Lehnholdi, 1829-31 (contains Origo and De viris illustribus).
• Sexti Aurelii Victoris de caesaribus liber, Franciscus Pichlmayr (ed.), Monachii, typos curavit F. Straub, 1892.
• Sexti Aurelii Victoris historia romana, Lipsiae, sumptibus succ. Ottonis Holtze, 1892 (contains the opera omnia).
• Sexti Aurelii Victoris historia romana, Th. Chr. Harlesii (ed.), 2 voll., Londini, curante et imprimente A. J. Valpy, 1829: vol. 1, vol. 2 (contains the opera omnia).