The Fragments on Julian's Campaign by Eutychianus the Historian is a lost historical work known only from a single citation in the tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda. That lexicon records the title and author but provides no direct quotation from the text itself. Based on its title, the work almost certainly treated the Persian campaign of the Roman emperor Julian, who reigned from 361 to 363 CE. This would have encompassed his ambitious invasion of the Sasanian Empire in 363, a campaign that culminated in his death in battle. As a presumably contemporary or near-contemporary account, the work would have functioned as both a military history of the expedition and a biographical narrative focused on the emperor's actions. Its sole preservation within the Suda confirms the existence of this otherwise unknown source for Julian's reign, placing Eutychianus among the fragmentary historians of the late Roman period, though the work's specific content and its potential influence on later historiography remain entirely unknown.
| 1 | Malalas Chron.: Εὐτυχιανὸς δὲ ὁ χρονογράφος ὁ Καππάδο ξ , στρατιώτης ὢν καὶ βικάριος τοῦ ἰδίου ἀριθμοῦ τῶν Πριμοαρμενιακῶν, παρὼν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ, συνεγράψατο ὅτι κατελθὼν ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Ἰουλιανὸς μονὰς ιεʹ ἐπὶ τὰ Περσικὰ μέρη διὰ τοῦ Εὐφράτου εἰσῆλθε καὶ ἐπικρατὴς γενόμενος καὶ νικήσας πάντας παρέλαβεν ἕως πόλεως λεγομένης Κτησιφῶντος, ἔνθα ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν ἐκάθητο, ἐκείνου φυγόντος ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τῶν Περσαρμενίων, καὶ βουλομένου μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας συγκλήτου καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ αὐτοῦ ἄχρι τῆς Βαβυλῶνος τῇ ἑξῆς ὁρμῆσαι καὶ ταύτην παραλαβεῖν διὰ τῆς νυκτός. Καὶ ὡς καθεύδει, εἶδεν ἐν ὁράματί τινα τέλειον ἄνδρα ἐνδεδυμένον ζάβαν καὶ εἰσελθόντα πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν παπυλεῶνα αὐτοῦ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως Κτησιφῶντος ἐν πόλει λεγομένῃ Ἀσίᾳ, καὶ κρούσαντα αὐτὸν λόγχῃ· καὶ πτοηθεὶς ἐξυπνίσθη κράξας· καὶ ἐξανέστησαν οἱ κουβικουλάριοι εὐνοῦχοι καὶ σπαθάριοι καὶ ὁ στρατὸς ὁ φυλάττων τὸν παπυλεῶνα, καὶ εἰσελθόντες πρὸς αὐτὸν μετὰ λαμπάδων βασιλικῶν· καὶ προσεσχηκὼς Ἰουλιανὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἑαυτὸν σφαγέντα κατὰ τῆς μασχάλης ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς· «Πῶς λέγεται ἡ κώμη ὅπου ἐστὶν ὁ παπυλεών μου;» καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ ὅτι Ἀσία λέγεται. Καὶ εὐθέως ἔκραξεν· «Ὦ Ἥλιε, ἀπώλεσας Ἰουλιανόν.» Καὶ ἐκχυθεὶς τὸ αἷμα παρέδωκε τὴν ψυχὴν ὥραν νυκτερινὴν πέμπτην (ἔτους κατὰ Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν μεγάλην χρηματίζοντος υιαʹ.) |