Is There Hope for the Barbarian? Imagining Outgroup Futurities in Ammianus Marcellinus and Eunapius of Sardis

Abstract

<p> The chapter examines whether and under what conditions the Later Imperial historiographers Ammianus and Eunapius grant non-Roman groups agency regarding futurity and hope. It discusses the relevance of these two concepts as a framework for these non-Christian authors’ narrativisation and causal explanations, as Christian thought increasingly influenced the conceptualisation of hope in Late Antiquity. Focusing on the migration and settlement of Gothic groups in the Roman Empire, the chapter explores whether closer Roman–non-Roman relations in Late Antiquity deepened the portrayal of barbarian hopes, versus the more established topic of Roman hopes about barbarians. It considers whether attributions of future-oriented planning or “mindreading” the hopes of outgroups marked a shift in Roman historiography’s view of outgroup volition and futurity. <br></p>