In Defiance of History

This volume offers a counterbalance to the dismissal that Orosius’s Histories Against the Pagans has suffered in most recent criticism. Orosius is traditionally considered to be a mediocre scholar and an essentially worthless historian but this book takes his literary endeavour seriously, recognising the unique contribution the work represents at a crucial moment of debate and uncertainty. The Histories is recognised as intrinsically valuable rather than of interest as an object of study only in comparison with other texts and authors, Augustine of Hippo, Orosius’s mentor, being the standard point of reference. The approach of the book is historiographical, exploring the form, purpose and meaning of the Histories. The themes of divine providence, monotheism, and imperial authority are examined, and the subjects of war and the sack of Rome receive extended analysis. The book highlights the significant historiographical innovations of the Histories that are seldom explored, for example the subversion of imperial history within a Christian spectrum in the synchronisation of the emperor Augustus and Christ. Each chapter contributes to the progression of knowledge about Orosius’s Histories and the wider literary and historiographical context of the late fourth and early fifth centuries AD.