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The Historia Augusta: A Late Roman Collection of Biographies

• The Historia Augusta is a collection of biographies of Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs, and usurpers.
• It was written in Latin and covers the period from 117 to 284 AD.
• The collection claims to be a compilation of works by six different authors known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae.
• These works were supposedly written during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I.
• The collection consists of thirty biographies, mostly focusing on individual emperors, but some include groups of emperors who were similar or contemporaneous.
• The Historia Augusta is believed to have been modeled after the similar work of Suetonius called The Twelve Caesars.
• The true authorship of the Historia Augusta has been a subject of controversy among historians and scholars since the 19th century.
• The date of the work and the authenticity of its authors have also been questioned.
• The purpose of the Historia Augusta is debated and not definitively known.
• It is written in a style that combines historical facts with fictional elements and anecdotes.
• Hermann Dessau, in 1889, rejected both the date and the authorship of the Historia Augusta.
• Despite the controversies surrounding it, the Historia Augusta remains an important source of information on the Roman emperors and their time.