Ammianus Marcellinus, Greek by birth but writing in Latin c. AD 390, was the last great Roman historian. His writings are an indispensable basis for our knowledge of the late Roman world. He offers not only the 'traditional' Roman subject matter of emperors and high politics, military campaigning and foreign wars, but new features symptomatic of his age - the machinations of the imperial court, barbarian people and their leaders, the powerful Persian kingdom in the east and the influence of Christian Bishops. This book represents a collection of papers analysing Ammianus' writings from a variety of perspective, including Ammianus as historian of, and participant in, Julian's Persian campaign, his identification with traditional religious attitudes and values in Rome and his view of the Persian Magi. The contributors engage especially with the concept of self-identification. They address the tension of Ammianus' dual role as both 'outside' external narrator and at the same time and 'insider' to the contemporary experiences and events which make up his surviving history.