Ermanaric is mentioned in two Roman sources ; the contemporary writings of Ammianus Marcellinus and in Getica by the 6th century historian Jordanes.

Although Dio is the earliest writer to mention them, Ammianus Marcellinus used the name to refer to Germans on the Limes Germanicus in the time of Trajan's governorship of the province shortly after it was formed, circa 98 / 99.

Neither of the main ancient sources for this period, Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimus, mention the Bastarnae in their accounts of the 4th century, possibly implying the loss of their separate identity, presumably subsumed into the neighbouring Sarmatians or Goths.

Sinor also cites Ammianus ' statement that the Huns " are subject to no royal restraint ," casting further doubt on Balamber's status as king.

This practice contrasts with evidence of cremation among the Chionites in Ammianus and with remains found by excavators of the European Huns and remains in some deposits ascribed to the Chionites in Central Asia.

According to Ammianus, Ermanaric is " a most warlike king " who eventually commits suicide, facing the aggression of the Alani and of the Huns, who invaded his territories in the 370s.

Ammianus relates ( xvii. 1. 11 ) that much later the Emperor Julian undertook a punitive expedition against the Alemanni, who by then were in Alsace, and crossed the Main ( Latin Menus ), entering the forest, where the trails were blocked by felled trees.

The Greuthungi are first named by Ammianus Marcellinus, writing no earlier than 392 and perhaps later than 395, and basing his account of the words of a Tervingian chieftain who is attested as early as 376.

When later authors described the period, this is what they emphasized: Ammianus has Constantius II admonish Julian for disobedience by appealing to the example in submission set by Diocletian's lesser colleagues ; Julian himself would compare the Diocletianic tetrarchs to a chorus surrounding a leader, speaking in unison under his command.

The Greuthungi are first named by Ammianus Marcellinus, writing no earlier than 392 and perhaps later than 395, and basing his account of the words of a Tervingian chieftain who is attested as early as 376.

In 363, Hormizd served against Persia in the army of the Roman emperor Julian ( 361 – 363 ); in turn his son, of the same name, later served as proconsul ( Ammianus Marcellinus 26.

Ammianus ' explanation of the thin beards is wrong.

Most early writers concur in placing it on an island ; so Tukulti-Ninurta II, Assur-nasir-pal, Isidore, Ammianus Marcellinus, Ibn Serapion, al-Istakri, Abulfeda and al-Karamani.

When Ursicinus lost his office and the favour of Constantius, Ammianus seems to have shared his downfall ; but under Julian, Constantius's successor, he regained his position.

Like many ancient historians, Ammianus had a strong political and religious agenda to pursue, however, and he contrasted Constantius II with Julian to the former's constant disadvantage ; like all ancient writers he was skilled in rhetoric, and this shows in his work.

Scholars have often believed that Ammianus ' work was intended for public recitation for two reasons: the overwhelming presence of accentual clausulae, which implies that it was intended to be read aloud ; and epistle 1063 of Libanius to a Marcellinus of Rome which refers to public recitations.

However, virtually all major works of Greek and Latin prose possessed such clausulae ; and some scholars have rejected the identification of Libanius ' Marcellinus with Ammianus, since Marcellinus was a very common name and the tone suggests Libanius was addressing a man much younger than himself ( Ammianus was his contemporary ).

It is a striking fact that Ammianus, though a professional soldier, gives excellent pictures of social and economic problems, and in his attitude to the non-Roman peoples of the empire he is far more broad-minded than writers like Livy and Tacitus ; his digressions on the various countries he had visited are particularly interesting.

Some have understood Ammianus's testimony as a claim that at the time of Atlantis's actual sinking into the sea, its inhabitants fled to western Europe ; but Ammianus in fact says that “ the Drasidae ( Druids ) recall that a part of the population is indigenous but others also migrated in from islands and lands beyond the Rhine " ( Res Gestae 15. 9 ), an indication that the immigrants came to Gaul from the north ( Britain, the Netherlands or Germany ), not from a theorized location in the Atlantic Ocean to the south-west.

In 364, Libanius stated that Julian was assassinated by a Christian who was one of his own soldiers ; this charge is not corroborated by Ammianus Marcellinus or other contemporary historians.

Ammianus Marcellinus considered the Alans to be the former Massagetae: " the Alani, who were formerly called the Massagetae " and stated " Nearly all the Alani are men of great stature and beauty ; their hair is somewhat yellow, their eyes are terribly fierce ".

Ammianus records that the Roman scouts estimated 10, 000 Gothic troops ; but Ammianus dismissed this as an underestimate.

The fourth century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus ( 325 / 330 – after 391 ) said, “ From there ( Harran ) two different royal highways lead to Persia: the one on the left through Adiabene and over the Tigris ; the one on the right, through Assyria and across the Euphrates .” Not only did Harran have easy access to both the Assyrian and Babylonian roads, but also to north road to the Euphrates that provided easy access to Malatiyah and Asia Minor.

Ancient toponyms for Samarra noted by the Samarra Archaeological Survey are Greek Souma ( Ptolemy V. 19, Zosimus III, 30 ), Latin Sumere, a fort mentioned during the retreat of the army of Julian the Apostate in 364 AD ( Ammianus Marcellinus XXV, 6, 4 ), and Syriac Sumra ( Hoffmann, Auszüge, 188 ; Michael the Syrian, III, 88 ), described as a village.

The earliest reference to Epiphany as a Christian feast was in A. D. 361, by Ammianus Marcellinus St. Epiphanius says that 6 January is hemera genethlion toutestin epiphanion ( Christ's " Birthday ; that is, His Epiphany ").

Orat., iii ; Ammianus, XXI, vi, 4 ), succeeded in bringing about a conference of bishops at Sirmium.

Denis Van Berchem, of the University of Geneva, proposed that Eucherius ' presentation of the legend of the Theban legion was a literary production, not based on a local tradition ; by isolating its hagiographic conventions from the anachronisms of local narrative elements, he sought to demonstrate that Eucherius derived his formulas from Lactantius and Orosius and that the decimation was an anachronism: the practice of decimation had not been practiced for at least a century ( see Ammianus Marcellinus for Julian's misinterpretation of decimation ) and that service by Christians in the legions before Emperor Constantine I was relatively rare.

bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, naturally profited by this war ; and Vardanes is therefore called founder of Ctesiphon by Ammianus Marcellinus.

His rule is recorded is Ammianus XXIII 1, 3.

He also could boast of having recovered Ammianus Marcellinus, Nonius Marcellus, Probus, Flavius Caper and Eutyches.

Even Julian's intellectual friends and fellow pagans were of a divided mind about this habit of talking to his subjects on an equal footing: Ammianus Marcellinus saw in that only the foolish vanity of someone " excessively anxious for empty distinction ", whose " desire for popularity often led him to converse with unworthy persons ".

In the 4th century they were still described by Ammianus Marcellinus as the scourge of the neighbouring provinces of Asia Minor, with a major series of raids occurring from AD 404 to 409, including one campaign to eradicate them led by the Eastern Roman general Arbazacius, but they were said to have been effectually subdued in the reign of Justinian I.

* Crump, Gary A. Ammianus Marcellinus as a military historian.

Ammianus Marcellinus rated this reverse with the most serious military disasters of the Roman Empire to his time: Varus ' defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the incursions of the Marcomanni during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and the Battle of Adrianople.

His work as a military intellectual places him in the tradition of Xenophon, Julius Caesar, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Flavius Merobaudes.

The historian Ammianus provides an account of the tumultuous situation in Britain between 364 and 369, and he describes a corrupt and treasonous administration, native British troops ( the Areani ) in collaboration with the barbarians, and a Roman military whose troops had deserted and joined in the general banditry.

Outside of the slim military evidence, Ammianus ' account implies that Valentia was abandoned by Theodosius at first prior to it being regained and given a ' properly-appointed governor '.

The historian Ammianus Marcellinus described it as a barbarica conspiratio that capitalized on a depleted military force in the province brought about by Magnentius ' losses of the Battle of Mursa Major after his unsuccessful bid to become emperor.

He is praised by Ammianus for his military abilities.

The primary sources for Frankish military custom and armament are Ammianus Marcellinus, Agathias, and Procopius, the latter two Eastern Roman historians writing about Frankish intervention in the Gothic War.

Ammianus Marcellinus, a noted Roman historian and general who served in the army of Constantius II in Gaul and Persia and fought against the Sassanid army under Julian the Apostate, described the sight of a contingent of massed Persian cataphracts in the 4th century:

Ammianus reports also that Gallus and Constantina started several trials for magic against wealthy people, ending in the execution of innocents and in the confiscation of their wealth.