Year: 1921,1924,1932 (Reprint 1991,1993,1998)
Author: Unknown Roman historian of the 5th century.
Translator: D. Magie
Genre: Historical work
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0-674-99154-0, 0-674-99155-9, 0-674-99290-3
Series: The Loeb Classical Library
Language: English, Latin
Format: PDF
Number of Pages: 544 + 536 + 548

Collection of 30 biographies of Roman emperors, a Latin work, dated in various ways: from the end of III to VI century. n. e. The names of 6 authors are named in the manuscripts: Eliy Spartian, Julius Kapitolin, Vulcacy Galikan, Elij Lampridius, Trebelly Pollion, Flavius вЂвЂVopisk. Until recently it was believed that biographies 1-21 are the works of the first four authors, and biographies 22-30 belong to the two remaining ones. Today, however, the opinion prevails that the whole collection was written by one unknown author to us, not earlier than the 5th century. n. e. The collection included biographies of emperors, usurpers and pretenders to the throne of 117-284. n. e., from Adrian to Numerian, but its middle part, referring to 244-253 years. n. e., was lost. Some researchers believe that the beginning (the biographies of Nerva and Trajan) must have been lost, in the event that the authors continued the work of Suetonius. This fact is not proved, although the influence of Suetonius is obvious here. However, Suetonius was not the only model, so the biographies of the collection differ significantly in the construction from the Life of the Twelve Caesars. Their composition is not so transparent. Equipped with an introduction, and often an epilogue, they contain long descriptions, a clearly expressed moralistic tendency. At the end of the biographies are placed documents: letters, decrees of the Senate, etc. (these elements are absent from Suetonius). These documents are for the most part counterfeit. Great doubts are also caused by the numerous literary sources referred to in the collection. Very few of them are preserved (as, for example, the work of Herodian of Syria), and we often can suspect that we are dealing with a fake. It is not known with what purpose the work was written. The author (or authors) express their sympathy for the Senate, not approving either the hereditary monarchy, or the intervention of the army in political life. Recently, it is suggested that the author concealed the purpose of writing the work, his name and dates of life, in order to more effectively attack Christianity, contrasting him with the idealized tolerance of the Gentiles. Despite the tendentiousness and unquestionable, albeit hard-to-prove falsifications, this work is of great value to us, for it is the only remaining source of information about the reign of the emperors of the II and III centuries. n. e. It contains a lot of important information about the life of the yard and everyday life, it contains numerous anecdotes. Written in the spirit of Senatorial ideology, it illustrates the political thought and religious unrest of the era.

Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Volume I (Loeb Classical Library). 1921
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Volume II (Loeb Classical Library). 1924
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Volume III (Loeb Classical Library). 1932

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