Annotated Sixteenth Century Latin Account of Alexander the Great's Conquests by Justinus, One of the Few Surviving Latin Histories from the Pre-Christian Roman World

Justinus Marcus Junianus

Book

[Mediterranean][Military] Justinus, Marcus Junianus. Historiae Philippicae. The 1539 Latin edition preserving the principal surviving account of the lost universal history of Trogus Pompeius, one of the most important pre-Christian narratives of Macedonian rule. Composed originally as an abridgment of Trogus’s forty-four-book history written under Augustus, Justinus’s text passes on essential material on Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and the successor kingdoms. In the sixteenth century, printed editions of Justinus served as foundational texts for the study of the classical era and the Macedonian era. His preface states his aim to preserve what was “most worthy of being known,” shaping subsequent European understanding of Macedonian expansion and Hellenistic statecraft.

Justinus, Marcus Junianus. Historiae Philippicae. Basileae, 1539. Latin text. 8vo (measures approximately 5.5 x 7.5 inches). Single volume. 319 pages. Includes maps of the Macedonian and Hellenistic regions. Rebound in brown calf with gilt spine title label. Contemporary Latin marginal annotations in early ink on several leaves. Bottom edge stamp of St. Bernard Institute.

This edition reflects the sixteenth-century recovery of classical historical texts for scholarly circulation. Justinus’s epitome became indispensable precisely because Trogus’s original history was lost, rendering it one of the few continuous Latin sources for early Macedonian expansion and the political geography of the eastern Mediterranean before Roman consolidation. The presence of contemporary marginalia indicates early scholarly engagement with the text, consistent with its use in academic settings. Pages exhibit uniform age toning; marginal notes legible; later rebacking in brown calf with gilt spine label; textblock tight and clean; institutional stamp at bottom edge. Overall very good condition. Sixteenth-century humanist printing of a foundational classical historical source preserving otherwise lost Augustan-era historiography.

Item #18395

Price: $2,200.00