Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity

Diocletian (r.284-305 CE): Prices Edict, 301 CE in Latin [At Bib.Augustana]
Diocletian (284-305 CE) and Constantine (308-337 CE): Efforts to Stabilize the Economy [This Site]
Map: The Fourfold Division of the Empire [At Citrag]
The Tetrarchs [At Bluffton]
Notitia Dignitatum (Register of Dignitaries), c. 400 [At this Site]
2ND Ralph W. Mathisen: Diocletian (284-305 A.D.) [At Roman Emperors]
2ND Michael DiMaio, Jr.: Constantine I (ca.272 or 273-336, C.E.) [At Roman Emperors]
Sozomen (d. c. 450 CE): Constantine Founds Constantinople, 324 CE, from Ecclesiastical History 2.3 [At this Site]
2ND James O'Donnell: Liberius the Patrician [At UPenn]
On a late antique patrician, b. 465 CE.

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The End of the Roman Empire in the West

Ammianus Marcellinus (330-395 CE): The Battle of Adrianopole, 378 CE [At this Site]
Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330-395 CE): History, XIV.16: The Luxury of the Rich in Rome, c. 400 CE [At this Site]
Procopius of Caesarea (c.500-after 562 CE): Alaric's Sack of Rome, 410 CE, History of the Wars [written c. 550 CE], III.ii.7-39 [At this Site]
Procopius of Caesarea (c.500-after 562 CE): Gaiseric & The Vandal Conquest of North Africa, 406 - 477 CE, History of the Wars [written c. 550 CE], Book III, chapters iii-vii [At this Site]
Rutilius Numantius: On His Return, I.xi.47, The Greatness of Rome in the Days of Ruin, 413CE [At this Site]
Jordanes (fl.c.550 CE): History of the Goths Chap. 38: The Battle of Chalôns, 451 CE [At this Site]
The Defeat of Attila.
2ND Edward Gibbon: On the Fall of the Roman Empire [At this Site][added 7/2/98 to Rome page]
2ND Bruce Bartlett: How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome, Cato Institute Journal 14: 2, Fall 1994 [At Cato.org]
An example of ancient history being seen through distinctly modern eyes! [Be wary of all such "explanations" which do not consider the survival of the Eastern Empire.]

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Late Ancient Philosophy

Roman Stoicism
- 2ND Eclecticism, Cicero. Epictetus [IEP Articles]
- Cicero (98-c.55 BCE): The Dream of Scipio [At WSU] and in Latin [At IPA]
- Seneca (c.4 BCE-65 CE): On Tranquillity of Mind 9:4ff and in Latin [At Upenn]
- Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The Death of Seneca, 65 CE (Annals 15:64) [This Site]
- Epictetus (50-c.120 CE): Enchiridion, c.135CE [At MIT]
- Epictetus (50-c.120 CE): The Discourses [At Then Again]
- Marcus Aurelius Antonius (b.121-r.161-d.180 CE): Meditations, 167 CE [At this Site][One HTML file]
- Marcus Aurelius (b.121-r.161-d.180 CE): Meditations [At EAWC][Full Text][Chapter files]
- Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE): Meditations excerpts. [At MIT]
- 2ND George Long: Philosophy Of Antoninus [At this Site]
  A discussion of Stoic philosophy and Marcus Aurelius.
Neoplatonism
- WEB Neoplatonism, Plotinus, Emanation [IEP Articles]
- Plotinus (c.205-c.270 CE): Six Enneads [At MIT][Full Text][Chapter files]
- Plotinus (c.205-c.270 CE): Six Enneads [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- Plotinus (c.205-c.270 CE): On Beauty Ennead I:6.1 [At EWAC]
- Porphyry (232/3-c.305 C.E.): On Cult Images [At MIT]
  Drawn from fragments in Eusebius (c.260-340 CE).
- Porphyry (232/3-c.305 CE): On Images [At MIT][Full Text]
- Iamblichus (c.250-c.325 CE): On the Arts and Effects of Ecstasy, On the Mysteries III, 4-6 [At enteract.com]
- The Emperor Julian: Mispogon (or "Beard-Hater")[At this Site]

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Roman Mystery Religions

The Epiphany of the Mystery God [At enteract.com]
Identification with the Mystery God [At enteract.com]
Demortalizing (Apathanatismos) [At enteract.com]
WEB The Corpus Hermeticum 3rd Cent. CE.
Most of the texts are online here.
WEB Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii [Website]
WEB Mystery Religions in the Roman Empire [Website-U Richmond]
A student created site.
WEB Traditions of Magic in late Antiquity [At Michigan]
See especially text of curses
Demeter and Eleusis
- Story of Persephone [At Diotima]
- Hymn to Demeter [At Ecole]
  The canonical text of the Mysteries.
- The Eleusinian Mysteries: Various Texts [At enteract.com]
- Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Death and Initiation into the Mysteries, from On the Soul [At enteract.com]
- WEB The Eleusinian Mysteries [At ECOLE][Modern Text, Images]
- WEB Classical Texts on Demeter [AT UVIC]
  Links to Perseus Text
Cybele
- Lucretius (98-c.55 BCE): The Worship of Cybele, from The Nature of Things, [This Site]
- Catullus (c.84-c.54 BCE): Carmina 63 [At Aztriad]
  On the self-emasculating Galli.
- Prudentius (348-after 405 CE): Initiation into the Mysteries of Cybele: The Taurobolium Peristephanon X, 101 1-50 [At Enteract.com]
Isis
- Lucius Apuleius (c.123-c.170 CE): Isis, Queen of Heaven, from Book 11 of the Golden Ass, [This Site]
- Lucius Apuleius (c.123-c.170 CE): Lucius Prays to Isis Book 11 of the Golden Ass, [At Eserver]
- Lucius Apuleius (c.123-c.170 CE): Initiation into the Mysteries of Isis, from Book 11 of the Golden Ass, [At enteract.com]
- WEB The Temples and the Gods at Karanis [At Michigan]
  Karanis was a city in Roman Egypt.
Mithras
- 2ND David Ulansey: The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras [Modern Account][At Well.com]
  Useful account with Roman illustrations.
- 2ND Alison Griffith: Mithraism [At EAWC][Modern Account]
- 2ND Mithraism: The Legacy of the Roman Empire's Final Pagan State [At LacusCurtius]

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End of Paganism

Julian ("the Apostate") (b.332-r.361-d.363): Letter to Arsacius, c. 360 [At Then Again]
Symmachus (c.340-c.402): Relation 3, 384 CE [At Calgary]
Symmachus was the most prominent opponent of Christianity at his time. Here is his request to the Christian Emperors to restore the altar of victory to the Senate.
Ambrose of Milan (c.339-4 April 397): Response to Symmachus [ep. 17 and 18] [at Calgary]
Zosimus: Historia Nova [At Then Again]
Theodosius II (r.375-95) bans the pagan rites and sacrifices.
2ND James O'Donnell: The Demise of Paganism, Traditio 35 (1977):45-88 [At UPenn]

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Modern Perspectives on the End of Antiquity

Catastrophe?
Continuity?

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NOTES:

Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page.. The date of inception was 4/8/1998.

Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].

WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.

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