The ('Enmann's History of the Emperors') is a modern term for a hypothesized 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 Sextus Aurelius Victor (c. 320 – c. 390) was a historian and politician of the Roman Empire. 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 ...

, Eutropius, and the author of the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...

''. The work is not mentioned by any late Roman historian, but Enmann's analysis is today largely accepted and modified.Cf. There are some scholars, especially , who question its existence, but the majority accept it. The ''Kaisergeschichte'' was a brief historical work. It had covered the time from emperor Augustus to 337 or 357. Besides the three historians mentioned above, it was used by Festus,

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

, and the anonymous ''

Epitome de Caesaribus The ''Epitome de Caesaribus'' is a Latin historical work written at the end of the 4th century. It is a brief account of the reigns of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Theodosius the Great. It is attributed to Aurelius Victor, but was writte ...

''.

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. * 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. * (with bibliography).

Notes

4th-century documents 4th-century history books Hypothetical documents Roman Empire in late antiquity {{AncientRome-work-stub

See also

References

Notes