The Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte ('Enmann's History of the Emperors') is a modern term for a hypothetical Latin historical work, written in the 4th century, but now lost.
The German scholar Alexander Enmann made in 1884 a comparison of several late Roman historical works and found many similarities, which could not be explained by a direct literary relationship between the extant works (Eine verlorene Geschichte der roemischen Kaiser und das Buch De viris illustribus urbis Romae). Enmann postulated a theory of a lost historical work, which was the common source for authors including Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, and the author of the Historia Augusta.[1]
The work is not mentioned by any late Roman historian, but Enmann's analysis is today largely accepted and modified.[2] There are some scholars, especially Willem den Boer, who question its existence, but the majority accept it.[3]
The Kaisergeschichte was a brief historical work. It had covered the time from emperor Augustus to 337 or 357.[3] Besides the three historians mentioned above, it was used by Festus, Jerome, and the anonymous Epitome de Caesaribus.
See also
References
- Alexander Enmann, Eine verlorene geschichte der römischen Kaiser und das buch de viris illustribus urbis romae. Philologus, no. Supplement-Band 4, Heft 3. (1884). p. 337-501.
- Bleckmann, Bruno; Nickbakht, Mehran A.; Scardino, Carlo (2022). Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte. Rufius Festus, Breviarium. Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker der Spätantike. Vol. B1/B4. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh. pp. 3–216. ISBN 978-3-506-70832-8.
- Willem den Boer, Some Minor Roman Historians. Leiden, 1972.
- Timothy David Barnes, The Sources of the Historia Augusta. Collection Latomus v. 155. Bruxelles: Latomus, 1978.
- Burgess, R. W. (1995). "On the Date of the Kaisergeschichte". Classical Philology. 90 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1086/367453. JSTOR 270485. S2CID 162872345. (with bibliography).