The project ‘Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker der Spätantike’, led by Bruno Bleckmann and Markus Stein, has undertaken the commendable task of editing, commenting on and translating the fragmentary and lesser-known historians of Late Antiquity. Through their editions, they have already made accessible the historians of the so-called ‘crisis of the third century’ (2016), Philostorgius’ Church History (2015), the Consularia Constantinopolitana (2016), the Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte (2022), the Breviariae of Eutropius (2018) and Rufus Festus (2022), the Abbreviate History of Aurelius Victor (2021), contemporary panegyrics (2023) and several other works.

The volume under review, Module D of the KFHist project, edited by Bruno Bleckmann, Barbara Court and Antonia Knöpges, is titled Secular Contemporary Historiography of the 4th to 5th Centuries. It presents editions, translations and commentaries of surviving texts and testimonies relating to Nicomachus Flavianus (3–56), the anonymous author addressed by Symmachus (57–72), the Epitome de Caesaribus (73–434), and Sulpicius Alexander and Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus (435–518). Each text is accompanied by an introduction that makes observations on dating, authorship and milieu, demonstrating the extent to which proper Quellenkritik can inform our understanding. While the current state of research is discussed, as are the possibilities of different sources and interdependencies with other surviving writers, the editors also explicitly delineate areas of divergence and uncertainty due to the limitations of the surviving sources.

Nicomachus Flavianus (D 1), the praetorian prefect under Theodosius I and Eugenius, who was subjected to damnatio memoriae, wrote a historical work whose title and details are unknown. Of this work, only testimonies survive, not fragments. Regarding the anonymous author addressed by Symmachus (D 2), Bleckmann and Court argue that he cannot be identified with any of the suggested individuals and must therefore remain anonymous for the time being.

Clearly the Epitome de Caesaribus (D 3) takes up the bulk of the pages in the volume under review — and rightfully so, as it is a sadly undervalued text. The introduction to the Epitome de Caesaribus highlights the individuality of the different breviaries and characterises the author of the latest of the fourth-century breviaries, who is referred to as epitomator, as having the most biographical approach within this genre. There are no testimonies about the epitomator himself, only text-immanent hints. In her analysis, Knöpges challenges Stover and Woudhuysen’s suggestion that the Epitome was written in the second half of the sixth century. Instead, she situates the Epitome as a fourth-century text, arguing that it was composed under Arcadius and Honorius, more precisely between 395 and 402. The didactic nature of the life writing in the Epitome places it in a tradition alongside writers such as Suetonius and Eutropius. However, it also exhibits a certain nostalgia for imperial times, resulting in anachronistic comments on the bureaucratic structure of the empire. In the Epitome, life writing centres on individual reigns; therefore, its critical comments are not centred on Christianity per se, but rather articulated through comments on individual emperors. While this would, in theory, be compatible with a later date of composition, Knöpges argues that this would be possible only if the author were based in the Eastern Empire, which is clearly not the case. Instead, she proposes the possibility that he might have been based in northern Italy.

Sulpicius Alexander (D 4) and Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus (D 5) are known thanks to Gregory of Tours, who mentions them both as authorities within the Latin canon. Together, they hint at a thriving historiographic tradition in the Gallic West of the fifth century. Sulpicius Alexander and Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus are considered together in the volume, partly due to their shared milieu and partly due to the shared fragments and testimonies through Gregory.

Overall, the volume provides access to texts and writers that were previously less approachable. Through the introductions and commentaries, these texts and writers become more accessible and therefore more useful, especially for teaching purposes. The volume (as well as the entire KFHist project) sheds light on the diversity of late antique historiography in all its forms and offers an entry point for engaging with these aspects of the late antique literary tradition.