Academic Journal
Philostorgius’ Account of the Battle at Mursa ; Filostorgijev prikaz bitke pri Mursi
| العنوان: | Philostorgius’ Account of the Battle at Mursa ; Filostorgijev prikaz bitke pri Mursi |
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| المؤلفون: | Cedilnik, Alenka |
| المصدر: | Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca; Vol. 16 No. 1 (2014); 67-82 ; Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca; Letn. 16 Št. 1 (2014); 67-82 ; 2350-4234 ; 1580-0261 ; 10.4312/keria.16.1 |
| بيانات النشر: | Založba Univerze v Ljubljani / University of Ljubljana Press |
| سنة النشر: | 2014 |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | historiography, ancient history, ancient sources, anticient writers, battle at Mursa, Philostorgius, heavenly phenomenons, zgodovinopisje, antična zgodovina, antični viri, antični pisci, bitka pri Mursi, Filostorgij, sosonca, nebesni pojavi |
| الوصف: | On September 28, 351 AD, Emperor Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in the battle at Mursa. While the battle is described in several ancient sources, the present study focuses on the account given by Philostorgius. Philostorgius is the first known author to have included in his description of the battle the appearance of a cross in the sky, drawing on the writings of an unknown Arian historian. But for all its seemingly miraculous connotations, Philostorgius’ story is no mere figment of the imagination. It is based on a perfectly natural meteorological phenomenon, the parhelia or phantom suns, which had been observed on May 7, 351, in the sky above Jerusalem. They were interpreted at the time as the sign of Christ’s cross, and the contemporary Jerusalem bishop, Cyril, provided a detailed description in a letter to Emperor Constantius. But while the Bishop already saw this phenomenon as a sign of God’s favour to Constantius, the appearance of the cross above Jerusalem was not immediately associated with the slightly later conflict at Mursa. This connection was only established by Arian historians, who used the story of the vision before the Mursa battle to glorify Emperor Constantius, a supporter of Arianism. The earliest source known today is an anonymous Arian historian writing in the late 4th century: his work provided the basis for Philostorgius’ account of the Mursa battle.Still, the association of the visions above Jerusalem and Mursa is perhaps not to be attributed merely to the Arian authors’ partiality to Emperor Constantius. It may have been prompted by two natural but hardly everyday celestial phenomena as well: on May 28, 355, the Balkans, including Mursa, witnessed a total solar eclipse, while August 8, 351, brought a partial eclipse to an area of the Balkans (but not to Mursa). The two eclipses may have influenced Philostorgius’ account of the Mursa battle. While neither the eclipse nor the parhelia visible in Jerusalem could have been seen in the Mursa area in 351, Philostorgius (and ... |
| نوع الوثيقة: | article in journal/newspaper |
| وصف الملف: | application/pdf |
| اللغة: | Slovenian |
| Relation: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/keria/article/view/4391/4076 |
| DOI: | 10.4312/keria.16.1.67-82 |
| الاتاحة: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/keria/article/view/4391 https://doi.org/10.4312/keria.16.1.67-82 |
| Rights: | Copyright (c) 2014 Alenka Cedilnik |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsbas.8785C267 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | BASE |
| DOI: | 10.4312/keria.16.1.67-82 |
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