Considerações sobre memória e morte do imperador Juliano nos testemunhos de Libânio e Amiano Marcelino(século IV d.C.)

Abstract

Among the many topics regarding the emperor Julian, the subject of his death has caught our attention. Many authors of the Late Antiquity, Christians or not, provided many versions about such event. The sophist Libanius and the ser viceman Ammianus Marcellinus registered rel evant scenes of the Prince's death, wrote their texts at the same period, were antiochenes and probably communicated. However, their narra tives about Julian's death differ. Therefore, our goal is to analyze the many deaths of Emperor Julian presented in the testimonies of Libanius, as well as perform the comparison of these re ports with the testimony of Ammianus Marcel linus about the same subject. The comparison will serve for us to have a better understanding about the way that the sophist and the service man built a virtuous memory of this Emperor, turning the death of that Prince into a living memory. We add that both authors wrote their texts in Emperor Theodosius I's period. Ergo, we have a hypothesis that the many versions about Julian's death are related to events that permeate the timing of the writing of the death, thus the authors make the memory alive about Julian through the many reports about the mournful event.