Top Sources for the Roman Empire

  • Written Sources for the Roman Empire come from both Roman Historians and Inscriptions on Monuments and Tombs.
  • Below is a list of the written Sources from the Roman Period to today.

Top Ten Classical Sources for the Roman Empire by Date

  1. Livy (c. 59 BCE – c. 17 CE) ‘Roman History’.
  2. Ptolemy's Almagest (50 CE)
  3. Natural History (79 CE) by Pliny the Elder (23-79CE)
  4. Periplus of the Euxine Sea by Arrian (c.92-175 CE)
  5. New Testament (c.150 CE)
  6. Antonine Itinerary (c.290 CE).
  7. Peutinger Table (c.390 CE)
  8. Notitia Dignitatum (400-420 CE)
  9. Laterculus Veronensis (Verona List) (7th century CE)
  10. Ravenna Cosmography (700 CE)

Top Roman Historians

  1. Polybius (203-c. 120 BCE) early Roman history
  2. Diodorus Siculus of Sicily (1st century BCE) Greek history.
  3. Livy Titus Livius (c. 59 BCE – c. 17 CE) Roman history
  4. Strabo (c. BCE – c. 24 CE) Greek Geographer and Historian
  5. Plutarch (c. 46 – 120 CE) ‘Parallel Lives’
  6. Dio Chrysostom (c. 40-115 CE)
  7. Pliny the Elder (61-112 CE) Natural History
  8. Tacitus Gaius Cornelius (c. 56 – c. 120 CE) early Roman Empire.
  9. Appian (c. 95 – c. 165 CE) Roman history.
  10. Arrian (c. 92-175 CE) Greek History
  11. Dio Cassius or Cassius Dio (c. 160 – c. 229 CE) Roman history.
  12. Herodian (c. 170 – 240 CE) Roman history.
  13. Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 325/330 CE – c. 392/400 CE) Roman history.
  14. Macrobius (370-430 CE) Saturnalia (commentary on Roman Religion)

Top Sources for the Eastern Empire (395-1453 CE)

  • Zosimus (460-520 CE) he wrote about the Roman Empire between 27 BCE-410 CE.
  • Chronicon Paschale (7th century CE)
  • Procopious: History of the Wars (553 CE)
  • Evagrius Scholasticus: Ecclesiastical History (431-593 CE)
  • Agathias Scholasticus: Histories (552-558 CE)
  • Theophylact Simocatta: History (7th century CE)

Top Modern Sources by date

  • Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c.1731 CE)
    • The Venerable Bede (c.672-735 CE) Written as a history of the Christian Church in England, it mainly covers the Anglo Saxon period but contains references to the Roman period before the Saxon invasion.
  • History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789)
  • Theodore Mommsen (1817-1903 CE)
    • History of Rome Volumes 1-5. (First Published 1854-56 CE)
    • Corpus Inscriptiorium Latinarum (CIL) 1861: Mommsen founded this collection of inscriptions which continues today.
  • ILS: Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (1892-1916)
    • A Listing of Latin Inscriptions in three volumes by Hermann Dessau, published between 1892-1916 CE. Each inscription is given a catalogue number, for example, ILS 5624.
  • CIL: Corpus Inscriptionarum Latinarum (1954)
    • A more comprehensive collection of Latin Inscriptions found in the Empire since 1954 CE.
    • Each inscription is given a catalogue number, often with the ILS number, eg, CIL 1.2.345, ILS 572.
  • Margary numbers (1955)
    • In 1955 ‘The Roman Roads of Britain’ was published by Ivan Margary.
    • This is a catalogue of known and supposed Roman Roads and their branches in Britain by the historian Ivan Margary.
    • Margary copied the modern road numbering technique.
  • RIB: ‘Roman Inscriptions of Britain’ (1965)
    • First published 1965 CE and continuously updated since.
    • A continually updated catalogue of epigraphical inscriptions found in Britain, such as those found on tombstones or milestones.
    • They are given a RIB reference number which is then cross referenced to the CIL number (see below).
  • Barrington’s Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (2000)
    • The Atlas is the result of a huge academic research project which lists all the ancient towns and cities of the Greco-Roman world with both their original and modern names.
    • The Atlas covers the period from c.1,000 BCE to c.640 CE.
    • The Atlas encompasses the geographical region between the Azores and China.
  • Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire (2002 CE)
    • A Hardcover published by Facts on File Inc. written by Matthew Bunson.
  • The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Roman Empire (2019 CE)
    • A Paperback published by Amber Books.

Lost Sources

 

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