Sulpicius Alexander and the Soldier Historians of the Later Roman Empire

The focus of the article is the resemblance between the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus and Sulpicius Alexander, demonstrated by the selection and focus on the same kind of information, one that stems from an affinity of perspectives, shaped by similar professional experiences and social backgrounds, as well as intended audiences. The article explores the potential similarities between these two authors and another historian with a military background – Magnus of Carrhae. Inspecting these hypotheses facilitates in turn a reconsideration of the existing identification of Sulpicius Alexander proposed by Seeck and reiterated by Zecchini. In the conclusion it is postulated that examined cases are signs of a socio-cultural phenomenon of the soldier historians, which emerged in the Roman Empire of the fourth century CE, but ultimately died out due to political and societal changes, such as for example the disappearance of the professional military in the western part of the Roman Empire, which took place in the following century.