Mythenauslegung, römische Königszeit und der Tod des Kaiser Valens: Christliche Interpretationen von Orosius bis Isidor von Sevilla

Abstract

Chronicles became the dominant historical genre in the transition period between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. While individual authors tended to build one on another, they also exerted considerable licence in rearranging the tralaticious material they found in previous compilations. Comparing Latin with Greek authors– Orosius, Isidore of Seville, Gregory of Tours, and John Malalas – the present contribution argues that all of these historical works, while summarising the history of antiquity, reflect discourses of their own day and age. These differences can be appreciated in comparing their specific views on the origin of sin in the world, on king Numa, and on the death of the Arian emperor Valens.