AUGUSTAN HISTORY

Latin Historia Augusta, a collection of biographies of the Roman emperors (Augusti) from Hadrian to Numerian (117284), an important source for the history of the Roman Empire. The work is incomplete in its surviving form (it probably originally began with one of Hadrian's predecessors, Nerva or Trajan), and its original title is unknown. Its authorship and date of composition are also matters of argument. The names of six authors of the early 4th century are given in the manuscript itself, but some scholars regard these as spurious and believe that the History was written in the late 4th century. Its point of view is consciously pagan, and the author or authors may have been trying to counteract the growing dominance of Christianity, perhaps influenced by the paganism of the emperor Julian (reigned 361363). The first part of the work, from Hadrian to Caracalla, is thought to be based on reliable sources and is of great historical value; the remainder is considered to be generally less reliable.