Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond

Geoffrey Adams taught as assistant lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient History at Monash University in 2007/8. His research interests include Roman Domestic Space, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Roman Biography, Roman Imperial History, Roman Britain, Pyrrhus of Epirus and the design of Hellenistic Palaces.

Adams provides a welcome précis of his biographical-literary methods that reveal the intensely aretalogical aspect (narrating the mythical or miraculous deeds of a hero or god) in the Vita Marci Antonini Philosophi, set within the larger context of the historically and textually problematic Historia Augusta. The author acknowledges the earlier contributions of Joseph Schwendemann, André Chastagnol, Ronald Syme, and Robin Birley, and claims to publish the first in-depth commentary on the Vita Marci. He validates his claims through an insightful thematic analysis that focuses on the biographer's motivations, the probity of the Vita as a historical source, and the romantic memorialization of Marcus Aurelius as the ideal princeps. Adams presents a trenchantly detailed literary dissection of the Vita using a distinctive approach (complete with graphs) that focuses on the biographical elevation of thematic progression over historical fact. By contextualizing the Vita Marci, Adams demonstrates the consistent partiality toward the "character" of Marcus Aurelius evidenced within the entire corpus of the Historia Augusta. This is a highly specialized literary study demonstrating (and demanding) a virtuosic command of scholarship. It cuts across a broad spectrum of scholarly issues, and should appeal to advanced students of Roman imperial history and biography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Vita Marci Antonini Philosophi and the Historia Augusta in its Biographical ContextChapter 2: Commentary on the Vita Marci Antonini PhilosophiChapter 3: Commentary on the Interpolation in the Vita Marci Antonini PhilosophiChapter 4: Marcus Aurelius’ General Representation in the Historia AugustaChapter 5: Marcus Aurelius in the Third and Fourth Centuries ADConclusions Appendix: The Vita Marci Antonini Philosophi: the Text and a Translation