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Document Details : Title: A Neglected Omen of a Succession of Imperial Deaths (Amm. 23.5.12) Author(s): WOODS, David Journal: Latomus Volume: 78 Issue: 4 Date: 2019 Pages: 1085-1096 DOI: 10.2143/LAT.78.4.3287644 Abstract : During an early stage of the emperor Julian’s Persian expedition, a lightning bolt killed a soldier by the name of Jovian together with the two horses that he was leading at the time. Ammianus describes this omen as if it was relevant only to the fortunes of Julian himself. However, it is argued that by the time he was writing in the 380s, most listeners or readers would have recognised this as an omen of the deaths of the emperors Jovian, Valentinian I, and Valens, with the soldier Jovian symbolising the emperor Jovian, and the two horses symbolising Valentinian and Valens. The reason why Valentinian and Valens were symbolised by horses lies in the nickname of their father Gratian, Funarius, which ought to be translated as ‘Trace-Horse’ rather than ‘Rope Pedlar’. |
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