Varthän flyr vi, mina tappra män? : En komparativ studie av militärideologi i Vegetius och Ammianus Marcellinus texter

Sammanfattning: This study is situated between the disciplines of military history and the history of ideas. It focuses on two late Roman writers; the bureaucrat Vegetius and the historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Drawing on linguistic methodology and a theory of ideology formulated by the Swedish political scientist Herbert Tingsten, this is the first comprehensive and comparative study of these two important sources of information on the late Roman military. The purpose of the study has been to elucidate and explain ideological differences and similarities between the two figures. Previous research suggests that Vegetius’ De Re Militari is a less trustworthy source given its author’s lack of military experience and his reliance on earlier written sources. By comparing it with Ammianus’ Res Gestae, a source often attributed greater credibility, this study hoped to demonstrate significant similarities that would warrant a re-evaluation of Vegetius’ source value. However, the conclusion drawn from the comparative examination of these two texts is that Ammianus and Vegetius did not share a common military ideology and that there are no grounds for a profound re-evaluation of Vegetius’ credibility.