Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus (mythology), Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both ...

in Italy. The volumes documented the subsequent

founding of Rome The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous ...

(753 BC), the formation of the Republic (509 BC), and the creation of the Empire (27 BC), up until 229 AD. Written in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

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 was the son of

Cassius Apronianus Cassius Apronianus was a Roman senator who lived in the 2nd century. He married the daughter of the Greek historian, orator, and philosopher Dio Chrysostom. Their son was the historian, consul and senator Cassius Dio. Apronianus was originally fro ...

, a Roman senator and member of the gens Cassia, who was born and raised at Nicaea in Bithynia.

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

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 "his home", as opposed to his description of his villa in Italy ("my residence in Italy"). For the greater part of his life, Dio was a member of the

public service A public service is any Service (economics), service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through pub ...

. He was a senator under Commodus and governor of Smyrna following the death of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succ ...

; he became a

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

in approximately the year 205. Dio was also proconsul in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and Pannonia.

Severus Alexander Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...

held Dio in the highest esteem and reappointed him to the position of consul, even though his caustic nature irritated the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort f ...

s, who demanded his life. Following his second consulship, while in his later years, Dio returned to his native country, where he eventually died. Dio was either the grandfather or great-grandfather of

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, consul in 291.

''Roman History''

Dio published a ''Roman History'' (, '), in 80 books, after twenty-two years of research and labour. The books cover a period of approximately 1,400 years, beginning with the tales from

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these represent ...

of the arrival of the legendary

in Italy () 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 Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. Sh ...

and the subsequent defeat of Boudica. Until the first century BC, Dio provides only a summary of events; after that period, his accounts become more detailed. From the time of Commodus (ruled 180–192 AD), Dio is very circumspect in his conveyance of the events that he witnessed. The version of Dio's work that survives today is quite composite since his history does not survive in its entirety. Dio's work has often been deprecated as unreliable and lacking any overall political aim. Recently, however, some scholars have re-evaluated his work and have highlighted his complexity and sophisticated political and historical interpretations.

Survey of surviving books and fragments

The first 21 books have been partially reconstructed based on fragments from other works, as well as the epitome of 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 The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdo ...

and Regal period to Dio's overall work has recently been underlined. Books 22 through 35 are sparsely covered by fragments. The books that follow, Books 36 through 54, are nearly all complete; they cover the period from 65 BC to 12 BC, or from the eastern campaign of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

and the death of

Mithridates Mithridates or Mithradates ( Old Persian 𐎷𐎡𐎰𐎼𐎭𐎠𐎫 ''Miθradāta'') is the Hellenistic form of an Iranian theophoric name, meaning "given by the Mithra". Its Modern Persian form is Mehrdad. It may refer to: Rulers *Of Cius (al ...

to the death of

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable build ...

. 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 monk from the 11th century. The abridgment of Xiphilinus, as now extant, commences with Book 35 and continues to the end of Book 80: it is a very indifferent performance and was made by order of the emperor Michael VII Doukas. 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 Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zo ...

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 (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

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 Peter the Patrician ( la, Petrus Patricius, el, , ''Petros ho Patrikios''; –565) was a senior Byzantine official, diplomat, and historian. A well-educated and successful lawyer, he was repeatedly sent as envoy to Ostrogothic Italy in the pr ...

, 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.

Literary style

Dio attempted to emulate

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scient ...

in his writing style. His style, where there appears to be no corruption of the text, is generally clear though full of Latinisms. Dio's writing was underpinned by a set of personal circumstances whereby he was able to observe significant events of the Empire in the first person, or had direct contact with the key figures who were involved.

In popular culture

The first season of 2017 docu-drama mini-series '' Roman Empire: Reign of Blood'' includes Cassius Dio, portrayed by Edwin Wright. Dio is shown engaging in delicate political manipulation, playing a key role in the downfall of Marcus Aurelius Cleander, trusted advisor to the Emperor Commodus, and ultimately in the murder of Commodus himself.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * *
Cassius Dio, ''Roman History''
(English translation on LacusCurtius)
Works by Cassius Dio at Perseus Digital Library

* Editio princeps
Dionis Romanarum historiarum libri XXIII, à XXXVI ad LVIII vsque (The Roman History)
, Greek text edited by Robert Estienne, Paris, 1548
Held
by the Corning Museum of Glass.
Editio princeps of Xiphilinus's Epitome (Robert Estienne, Paris, 1551)
at Google Books {{Authority control 150s births 230s deaths 3rd-century historians 2nd-century Greek people 3rd-century Greek people 2nd-century Romans 3rd-century Romans Dio Imperial Roman consuls Historians from Roman Anatolia People from Nicaea Roman-era Greek historians Roman governors of Africa Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain