Ammianus Marcellinus and the historical geography of the Balkans

Abstract

This paper examines the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus in the
light of historical geography, particularly its sub-categories of frontiers, population
migrations, and human geography. The historian’s account of the Roman-
Gothic War (AD 377-378), especially the fight for control of the Thracian
town of Beroe, reveals the contribution to historical understanding of the roles
of frontiers and population migrations. Similarly, a close reading of Ammianus
and his description of the Goths and their society reveals an appreciation for
that dimension of historical geography today called human geography, or the
study of peoples and their environments.