statistics and dating systems, which did not have to conform to the conventions of contemporary historical writing, were appropriate for such a work. Date of writing Scholarly debate places this from soon after the last events described, in 425, to close to 450. Thompson is an advocate of an early date (427 at the latest), as Olympiodorus gives a favourable account of “the most noble” general Boniface, declared a public enemy in 427 by Placidia. (However, in 432 Boniface was back in favour and was awarded the title Patrician, which makes possible a later date of publication. 433 is supported by the fact that Sozomen’s HE breaks off at this point; it is also the accepted date of publication of Philosturgius’ Ecclesiastical History, though this is disputed. Gillett opts for a later date, about 440; with a terminus ante quem of 450, when Theodosius II, its dedicatee, died. He reasons that the church historian Socrates, whose HE breaks off in 439, shows no signs of having used Olympiodorus, and that as Socrates read widely of the available literature, it is likely that Olympiodorus’ work had not been published by then. Gillett also offers, as evidence of a date of publication of 450, the “common and prudent practice” among historians to refrain from writing about events in the reigns of living emperors. Another possibility is that the work was published in sections, with the first decad having been written any time after the marriage of Placidia and Constantius in 417 (as they are therein referred to as married). The work may have been written to deadline. Sources Olympiodorus had access to a wide variety of sources and used many research techniques. He was widely read in prose and poetry.. He was aware of Ammon, who had measured the walls of Rome in the early 5th century. He quoted Asinius Quadratus, citing him extensively on geographical matters. He mentions the poet Peisander, whom he credits with providing the connection between the Argonauts and the founding of Emona. Thompson suggests that Olympiodorus had read and digested Ammianus Marcellinus: the works of the two historians being similar in scale, and in their use of geographical and social detail. It is possible to see the influence of Thucydides and Plutarch in the history., and the poet Claudian has been suggested as a source. A source with which Olympiodorus would have been familiar was the ‘’History