Ammianus and the massacre of Alexandria (RG 22.11), an example of ‘latent argumentation’
Abstract
This article studies Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae 22.11. In that chapter the principal event is the massacre of Bishop George of Cappadocia at the hands of an angry Alexandrian mob. Unlike the other ancient sources, Ammianus places the event out of its chronological context and explains it as a consequence of the death of Arthemius, a previous general of Egypt. Guy Sabbah's concepts of ‘argumentation techniques’ (a series of rhetorical devices with which the author of the RG doses the information) and ‘latent argumentation’ are taken into account in the close reading. This interpretive approach allows us to glimpse in what way Ammianus safeguards the image of Julian as a just judge.
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