Historiography about Paul Orosius at the beginning of the XXI century

In the article, the author considers the work of Paul Orosius «History against the Pagans» as a source for considering the problem of the formation of Latin historical thought.

Keywords: Paul Orosius, paganism, Christianity, barbarization, History against pagans.

At the beginning of the XXI century, many scientists begin to study the processes of development of the Christian religion, trying to answer the questions: how the first Christian historians in their writings convey the events of that time from the point of view of the new religion, how it influenced the formation of medieval man, how paganism merges with Christianity.

Among the works devoted to the stated problem, it is necessary to highlight the work of A. V. Makhlayuk «The process of «barbarization» of the Roman army in the assessment of ancient authors». The author calls this problem a geopolitical one, but at the same time writes that the process of interaction of the Roman army with the barbarians, their military organization played a positive role in the internal social policy of Rome and in the military organization.

The researcher notes that the evidence of ancient writers who could observe what is now called the provincialization and barbarization of the Roman armed forces is very important for studying this problem [3, p. 124]. Citing an assessment of this process by the late-romantic author Pavel Orozy, A. V. Makhlayuk writes that service in the army was considered a duty and a privilege of free people who were rich enough so that they could buy the necessary things for military service. The military organization of Rome was based on patriotism and fighting spirit.

Alexander Valentinovich notes the instruction of Pavel Orosius that the wars in the Late Empire, which took place because of power, are allied. This was due to the fact that the emperors were confirmed in power with the help of British and Gallic tribes. The scientist draws attention to the term bella socialia used by Orosius, which evokes the Allied War of 91–88 BC, when allied Italian communities rebelled against Rome. This war, as you know, has become a milestone event, including for the development of the military organization. It was the «new citizens» from Italians who largely made up the contingents of those mass armies that operated in the era of civil wars [3, pp. 127–128].

The author comes to the conclusion that the involvement of formations from Peregrines and foreign tribes in the Roman army was a catastrophic mistake of the Roman authorities. Since in the conditions of civil wars, these new formations, which are equated to the number of legions, led to very brutal military actions during civil wars, the purpose of which was looting.

L. P. Repina in his work «The History of Historical Knowledge» poses the problem of continuity of ancient and medieval authors. According to the scientist, their historiography was in many ways similar to each other. For historians of these periods, it was especially important, based on the events of the past, to identify certain patterns of behavior that would be the standard of a righteous person. They comprehended the past from the side of ethics and morality. Medieval authors, according to Lorina Petrovna, had to sum up the period of Late Antiquity, and show the continuity of the new era.

L. P. Repina's attention is focused on Pavel Korost, who was a student of the famous theologian Augustine the Blessed, and he, in turn, helped the young man to create a universal work on the history of the Latin Middle Ages.

The researcher believes that the «world history» appeared at a critical period in the history of the Roman Empire, which was subjected to invasions by barbarian tribes, and its purpose was to comprehend the historical fate of peoples in the context of religious ideas about the omnipotence of God. Orosius follows Augustine's ideas about the unquestionable omnipotence of God and his providence, which controls the destinies of both great earthly empires and true elect [4, p. 83].

I. Y. Vashcheva in her article raises the problem of the phenomenon of studying «Church histories» of the IV-VII centuries. She says that a holistic picture of the development of the church-historical literature of late antiquity has not yet developed, it is represented by myths and stereotypes.

The work of Paul Orosius «History against the Pagans», according to Irina Yurievna, was written during a period of violent polemics between Christians and pagans, which was connected with the events of 410 (in this year the Visigoths captured Rome). This work was to become a historical substantiation of the ideas that were set forth by Augustine himself in his theoretical treatise «De civitate Dei». Vashcheva notes that this was done «in order to clearly demonstrate that the pagan past, in terms of the number and horror of disasters that befell humanity, is not only not inferior to the Christian present, but also surpasses it» [1, pp. 138–139].

Therefore, Paul Orosius describes the history of the Roman Empire in the world and highlights in it the key events that help put Christianity above paganism.

Irina Yurievna comes to the conclusion that the work of Pavel Orosius is key when considering the historiography of late antiquity, that this is a natural link in the study of this period.

In her second article «Constantine the Great: Variations of the Image in the Christian Stories of Late Antiquity», I. Y. Vashcheva raises the problem of the formation of the image of the first Christian emperor Constantine the Great. The antiquarian believes that this image is formed in the works of Christian historians of the IV-VII centuries, which is perceived by late ancient historians in different ways. It is worth noting that Emperor Constantine did a lot for the Christian religion and therefore his figure is very important for understanding the historical path of the Byzantine Empire.

In the work of Paul Orosius, the scientist notes that the author respectfully talks about Constantine and thereby endows him with the attributes of a righteous sovereign: «Constantine took over the administration of the empire from his father, which he carried out in the greatest happiness for thirty-one years, having himself avoided all sorts of intrigues and misadventures, saved the Church from persecution and emerged victorious from the civil war, defeating all his opponents in turn» [2, p. 48].

I. Y. Vashcheva also draws attention to the fact that Orosius mentions inconvenient facts of the biography of the first Christian emperor. So he does not comment on the murder of Crispus, the son of the emperor, Pavel only notes dryly: «Meanwhile, it is not entirely clear why the Emperor Constantine, in captivity of emotions, turned the punishing sword and the punishment appointed for the wicked against his loved ones: and indeed, he killed his son Crispus and his sister's son, Licinius» [2, p. 48].

Irina Yuryevna comes to the conclusion that Orosius does not seek to explain the reason for such an act of Konstantin in any way, but notes that in the very formulation of the situation there are already obviously evaluative judgments: it was a «punishment for the wicked».

Thus, having considered the historiography of the beginning of the XXI century, it can be concluded that historians, analyzing the works of Paul Orosius, raise various problems that shed light on the Latin historical thought of the IV-V centuries.

A. V. Makhlayuk used the work of Orosius to assess the degree of barbarization of the Roman army. He comes to the conclusion that it was high and considers it a catastrophic mistake of the Roman authorities, since during the civil wars these formations led to very brutal military actions against the civilian population.

I. Y. Vashcheva, analyzing the «History against the Pagans», reveals the attitude of the ancient author to the personality of the first Christian emperor and comes to the conclusion that Orosius gives Constantine the attributes of a righteous ruler.

References:

1. Vashcheva, I. Y. Church histories of the IV-VII centuries: dynamics of development / I. Y. Vashcheva // Problems of history, philology, culture. — 2012. — № 2 (36). — Pp. 129–154.
2. Vashcheva, I. Y. Konstantin the Great: variations of the image in Christian stories of late antiquity / I. Y. Vashcheva // Bulletin of the Nizhny Novgorod University named after N. I. Lobachevsky. — 2013. — № 4 (3). — Pp. 46–58.
3. Makhlayuk, A. V. The process of «Barbarization» of the Roman army in the assessment of ancient authors / A. V. Makhlyuk // Ancient world and archeology. — 2002. — Issue 11. — pp. 123–129.
4. Repina, L. P. The history of historical knowledge / L. P. Repina. — Moscow: Bustard, 2004. — 285 p. — ISBN 5–7107–7438–3.