Lucius Cassius Dio
17th century illustration of Dio
17th century illustration of Dio
Native name
Δίων Κάσσιος
Bornc. 165 AD
Nicaea, Bithynia
Diedc. 235 AD (aged approx. 70)
Bithynia
OccupationHistorian, senator, praetor, proconsul, consul
NationalityRoman
SubjectHistory
Notable worksHistory of Rome
RelativesCassius Apronianus (father), Cassius Dio (grandchild or great-grandchild)

Lucius Cassius Dio (c. 165 – c. 235),[lower-roman 1] also known as Dio Cassius (Greek: Δίων Κάσσιος Dion Kassios), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the subsequent founding of Rome (753 BC), the formation of the Republic (509 BC), and the creation of the Empire (27 BC) up until 229 AD, during the reign of Severus Alexander. Written in Ancient Greek over 22 years, Dio's work covers approximately 1,000 years of history. Many of his 80 books have survived intact, or as fragments, providing modern scholars with a detailed perspective on Roman history.

Biography

Lucius Cassius Dio[lower-roman 2] was the son of Cassius Apronianus, a Roman senator and member of the Cassia gens, who was born and raised at Nicaea in Bithynia. Byzantine tradition maintains that Dio's mother was the daughter or sister of the Greek orator and philosopher, Dio Chrysostom; however, this relationship has been disputed. Although Dio was a Roman citizen, he wrote in Greek. Dio always maintained a love for his hometown of Nicaea, calling it "my home", as opposed to his description of his villa in Capua, Italy ("the place where I spend my time whenever I am in Italy").[4]

For the greater part of his life, Dio was a member of the public service. He was a senator under Commodus and governor of Smyrna following the death of Septimius Severus; he became a suffect consul in approximately the year 205. Dio was also proconsul in Africa and Pannonia. Severus Alexander held Dio in the highest esteem and reappointed him to the position of consul in 229. Following his second consulship, while in his later years, Dio returned to his native Bithynia, where he eventually died.[3][9]

Dio was either the grandfather or great-grandfather of Cassius Dio, consul in 291.[10]

Roman History

Dio published a Roman History (Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἱστορία, Rhōmaïkḕ Historía) in 80 books in Greek, later translated into Latin as the Historia Romana. On the matter of its composition, he writes the following: "I spent ten years in collecting all the achievements of the Romans from the beginning down to the death of Severus [211 AD], and twelve years more in composing my work. As for subsequent events, they also shall be recorded, down to whatever point it shall be permitted me".[11][12]

The books cover a period of approximately 1,400 years, beginning with the tales from Roman mythology of the arrival of the legendary Aeneas in Italy (c. 1200 BC) and the founding of Rome by his descendant Romulus (753 BC); as well as the historic events of the republican and imperial eras through 229 AD. The work is one of only three written Roman sources that document the British revolt of 60–61 AD led by Boudica.[13] Until the first century BC, Dio provides only a summary of events; after that period, his accounts become more detailed.

Dio's work has often been deprecated as unreliable and lacking any overall political aim.[14][15] Recently, however, some scholars have re-evaluated his work and have highlighted his complexity and sophisticated political and historical interpretations.[16][17][18]

Survey of surviving books and fragments

The first 21 books have been partially reconstructed based on fragments from other works, as well as the 12th-century epitome of Joannes Zonaras who used Dio's Roman History as a main source. Scholarship on this part of Dio's work is scarce but the importance of the Early Republic and Regal period to Dio's overall work has recently been underlined.[18] Books 22 through 35, which are only sparsely covered by fragments, were already lost by the times of Zonaras.[19]

The books that follow, Books 36 through 54, are all nearly complete; they cover the period from 65 BC to 12 BC, or from the eastern campaign of Pompey and the death of Mithridates to the death of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Book 55 contains a considerable gap, while Books 56 through 60 (which cover the period from 9–54 AD) are complete and contain events from the defeat of Varus in Germany to the death of Claudius.

Of the 20 subsequent books in the series, there remain only fragments and the meager abridgement of John Xiphilinus, a Byzantine monk from the 11th century sponsored by emperor Michael VII Doukas. The abridgment of Xiphilinus, as now extant, commences with Book 35 and continues to the end of Book 80. The last book covers the period from 222 to 229 AD (the first half of the reign of Alexander Severus).

Collections of book fragments

The fragments of the first 36 books have been collected in four ways:

Fragmenta Valesiana
Fragments that were dispersed throughout various writers, scholiasts, grammarians, and lexicographers, and were collected by Henri Valois
Fragmenta Peiresciana
Large extracts, found in the section entitled "Of Virtues and Vices", contained in the collection, or portative library, compiled by order of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. The manuscript of this belonged to Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc.
Fragmenta Ursiniana
The fragments of the first 34 books, preserved in the second section of the same work by Constantine, entitled "Of Embassies". These are known under the name of Fragmenta Ursiniana, as the manuscript in which they are contained was found in Sicily by Fulvio Orsini.
Excerpta Vaticana
Excerpta Vaticana by Angelo Mai contains fragments of Books 1 to 35 and 61 to 80. Additionally, fragments of an unknown continuator of Dio (Anonymus post Dionem), generally identified with the 6th century CE historian Peter the Patrician, are included; these date from the time of Constantine. Other fragments from Dio that are primarily associated with the first 34 books were found by Mai in two Vatican manuscripts; these contain a collection that was compiled by Maximus Planudes. The annals of Joannes Zonaras also contain numerous extracts from Dio.

Content

An outline of Roman History.

Books of Roman History

BookDescription
1The Founding of Rome.
2The seven legendary Roman Kings. The rape of Lucretia and her suicide, the Overthrow of the Roman monarchy and the shift toward a Republic.
3The early Roman Republic.
4Internal strife between plebes and patricians. Roman dictator is established as a concept and office.
5The Conflict of the Orders, paused during times of crisis. Wars with the Volsci, Etruscans, Aequi, and Sabines, and the treason of Coriolanus. The Laws of the Twelve Tables.
6The creation of the offices of consular tribune and of censor. Wars with the Etruscans, Faliscans, & with Veii.
7War with the Gauls & Latins. The Capitol besieged. Marcus Manlius Capitolinus failed coup. Camillus serves in the post of dictator for several terms.
8War is fought with the Samnites and with Capua. The people's debts are annulled by the tribunes.
9War is fought with Tarentum and Epirus. Epirus is led by King Pyrrhus
10Tarentum and Epirus are defeated. Rome intervenes in Volsinii by bolstering the nobility.
11First Punic War. Creation of Roman navy. Recounting of Regulus
12Rome wins the First Punic War. War is fought with the Gauls, the Faliscans, Liguria, Corsica, and Sardinia. Rome begins intervention in Greek affairs.
13Start of the Second Punic War.
14Second Punic War, continues. Fabius Maximus, elected dictator, and pursues a policy of attrition.
15Second Punic War continues. Battle of Cannae &the Siege of Syracuse & Roman capture of Capua. Death of Archimedes.
16Second Punic War continued. Scipio's success in Spain.
17End of Second Punic War and Roman victory.
18War with Philip V of Macedonia, Battle of Cynoscephalae leads to Philip's defeat. The Carthaginians incite up the Gauls. Cato the Elder and his writings.
19Rome's dealings with Greece continued. War with Antiochus. Death of Hannibal in exile in Bithynia.
20War against Perseus & Dalmatia. Rome's dealings with Rhodes, Cappadocia, Egypt.
21Third Punic War. Carthage and Corinth destroyed.
22‑29The Bacchanalia scandal. Wars in Spain, and against the Cimbri and Marsians. Discussion on Tiberius Gracchus.
30‑35Beginning of the Mithridatic Wars. Sulla's civil war.
36The Armenian campaigns. Pompey's campaign against pirates
37The career of Pompey. Campaigns against the Asiatic Iberians, the annexation of Syria and Phoenicia, and the First Triumvirate (Crassus, Caesar, and Pompey).
38Exile of Cicero. Julius Caesar's first consulate.
39Gallic War, continued. Caesar crosses into Britain. Ptolemy expelled from Egypt and restored.
40Gallic War, continued. Caesar crosses into Britain a second time. Crassus is defeated and killed. Rift between Caesar and Pompey begins.
41Caesar and his armies cross the Rubicon. Battle of Dyrrhachium, Battle of Pharsalus, Pompey's defeat.
42Death of Pompey. Caesar given honors in Rome.
43Caesar defeats Scipio and the younger Gnaeus Pompey. Caesar's triumphs celebrated in Rome. Ground is broken for the Forum of Caesar. The Julian calendar reforms issued.
44Caesar's cult of personality and his murder.
45Octavian, Caesar's heir, and his character. The Second Triumvirate (Octavian, Antony, Lepidus). Rift between Antony and Octavian, and Cicero.
46Octavian's victory over Antony.
47Rule of the Third Triumvirate. Defeat of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi.
48Third Triumvirate continued. Octavian and Antony ally with, then defeat Sextus Pompey.
49Octavian defeats Sextus Pompey and deprives Lepidus of his army and powers. Antony's defeat against the Parthians. Octavian conquers Pannonia. Rome acquires Mauretania.
50Octavian and Antony fight each other, the latter is decisively defeated in the battle of Actium.
51Antony and Cleopatra. Suicide of Antony. Octavian conquers Egypt.
52Octavian prepares to become the sole ruler of Rome.
53Octavian becomes sole ruler of Rome, and in doing so ushers in the imperial period. Organization of provincial administration is discussed.
54Consolidation of power by Octavian, now called Augustus. Roman rule extends to Rhaetia, Noricum, the Maritime Alps, and the Chersonesus.
55Dedication of the Precinct of Livia, the Campus Agrippae, the Diribitorium, the Temple of Mars. Tiberius retires to Rhodes. Augustus heirs both die young. Empress Livia rises in influence.
56The Disaster of Varus. Dedication of the Temple of Concord and the Portico of Livia. Death of Augustus and his funeral.
57Tiberius assumes emperorship, his reign and character. Cappadocia becomes Roman. Deaths of Drusus and Germanicus Caesar.
58Rise and fall of Sejanus. Tiberius's reign continues and he consolidates his hold on power, and his death.
59Gaius Caesar, Caligula, becomes emperor and his reign.
60-61Claudius assumes the emperorship, and his reign. Britain conquered. Claudius dies, poisoned by his wife Agrippina. Nero assumes the emperorship.
62Agrippina the Younger is put to death. Nero's reign includes the revolt of Boudicca, the Great Fire of Rome. Domitius Corbulo conquers Armenia. Seneca's plot and suicide.
63Nero's reign continued, and his sucicide. Vespasian begins the First Jewish–Roman War. The brief reigns of Galba and Otho.
64The reign of Vitellius.
65Vespasian's reign. His son Titus captures Jerusalem and destroys the Second Temple, winning the First Jewish War. Vespasian subdues Egypt. Temple of Jupiter Capitoline rebuilt.
66Upon the death of Vespasian, Titus assumes the emperorship for two years and his reign. The eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii.
67The reign and character of Domitian.
68The brief reign of Nerva. Reign of Trajan. The Dacian Wars end in Roman victory. Successful campaigns in Armenia and Parthia. A major earthquake centered in Antioch. Trajan dies.
69Trajan's adoptive son Hadrian succeeds to the throne. His character and interests. Antinous. Hadrian brutally suppresses the Bar Kokhba revolt. Hadrian's protracted illness and death.
70The reign of Antoninus Pius.
71Marcus Aurelius assumes the emperorship. The war against Vologaesus in Armenia. Roman bridge-building techniques are discussed.
72Wars against the Marcomanni and the Iazyges. Cassius's revolt in Syria ends in his death. Character of Marcus Aurelius.
73The reign of Marcus Aurelius' son Commodus and his character. His assassination.
74The reign and assassination of Pertinax. Didius Julianus wins power by purchasing it from the Praetorian Guard. Julianus's reign, and his assassination.
75Septimius Severus rise to the emperorship and his suppression of a rebellion.
76Severus defeats Albinus. War in Caledonia, and second siege of Hatra in Mesopotamia: neither one particularly successful. Power of Plautianus, prefect of the city.
77Eruption of Vesuvius. The downfall of Plautianus. Severus's campaign and death.
78Caracalla's reign as emperor. The wars he fought, his character and, his mass killings of Alexandrians is discussed.
79Caracalla falls to Macrinus. Macrinus and his reign. Macrinus' reign primarily occupied with civil war. He is overthrown by Elagabalus.
80The reign of Elagabalus, who is overthrown due to his excesses. Severus Alexander assumes the throne.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ He was named praetor by Pertinax (r. 194 AD) and assumed the office in 195 AD. Given that the minimum age for such office was 30, his birth date is given as 165, 164 or 163 AD.[1][2][3][4] Some authors argue that he was born earlier, in about 155 AD, but this is usually not accepted.[5] He probably died a few years before Alexander Severus's death in 235, but there is no way to determine this.[1]
  2. ↑ The name "Lucius" is attested by AE 1985, 821. Another inscription (AE 1971, 430) attests "Cl(audius) Cassius Dio", but the extra letter is probably a stone cutter's error.[6][7] Dio is also alleged to have had the cognomen "Cocceianus", but Alain Gowing argues that the evidence for it is insufficient, and the ascription is a Byzantine confusion with Dio Chrysostom, whom Pliny shows to be named Cocceianus.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Swan, Peter Michael (2004). The Augustan Succession: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History, Books 55-56. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-516774-0. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  2. ↑ Millar, Fergus (1964). Study of Cassius Dio. Oxford University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-19-814336-2.
  3. 1 2 Scott, Andrew G. (2018). Emperors and Usurpers: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-087959-4. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  4. 1 2 Potter, David Stone (2004). The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395. Psychology Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-415-10057-1. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  5. ↑ Riesner, Rainer (1998). "Cassius Dio". Paul's Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 167–174. ISBN 978-0-8028-4166-7. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  6. ↑ Oxford Classical Dictionary, "Cassius Dio". Archived 2021-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Dio's name: L'Année épigraphique 1971, 430 = Κλ΄ Κάσσιος Δίων. Roman Military Diplomas, Roxan, 133 = L. Cassius Dio.
  8. ↑ Gowing, Alain (January 1990), "Dio's Name", Classical Philology, 85 (1): 49–54, doi:10.1086/367176, JSTOR 269480, S2CID 161453524
  9. ↑ Carter, John (1987). The Reign of Augustus. London: Penguin Books. pp. 1. ISBN 978-0-14-044448-3.
  10. ↑ Martindale, John Robert; Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Morris, J., eds. (1971). "Cassius Dio". Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. I. Cambridge University Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-521-20159-9.
  11. ↑ Roman History, Book 73.23. Loeb Classical Library.
  12. ↑ See also Kemezis, Adam M. (2014). "The date of composition of Dio's history". Greek Narratives of the Roman Empire under the Severans. Cambridge University Press. pp. 282–293. ISBN 978-1-107-06272-6. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  13. ↑ Frénée-Hutchins, Samantha (2016). Boudica's Odyssey in Early Modern England. Routledge. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-317-17296-3. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  14. ↑ Millar, Fergus (1964). A Study of Cassius Dio. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  15. ↑ Lintott, A. (1997). "Cassius Dio and the history of the late Roman republic". Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. 34 (3): 2497–2523.
  16. ↑ Lange, Carsten Hjort; Madsen, Jesper Majbom, eds. (2016). Cassius Dio: Greek intellectual and Roman politician. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-33531-8. OCLC 964448138.
  17. ↑ Fromentin, Valérie; Bertrand, Estelle; Coltelloni-Trannoy, Michèle; Molin, Michel; Urso, Gianpaolo, eds. (2016). Cassius Dion: nouvelles lectures. Bordeaux: Ausonius.
  18. 1 2 Burden-Strevens, C.; Lindholmer, M.O. (2018). Burden-Strevens, Christopher; Lindholmer, Mads (eds.). Cassius Dio's Forgotten History of Early Rome (PDF). Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004384552. ISBN 978-90-04-38455-2. S2CID 166209848. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-04-12. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  19. ↑ Roman History, Introduction. Loeb Classical Library.

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