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 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
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...
over 22 years, Dio's work covers approximately 1,000 years of history.
Many of his books have survived intact, alongside summaries edited by later authors such as
Xiphilinus, a Byzantine monk of the 11th century, and
Zonaras, a Byzantine chronicler of the 12th century.
Biography
Lucius Cassius Dio 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
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
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").
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
Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, 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 cursus honorum, the ...
; he became a
suffect consul in approximately the year 205. Dio was also
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military ...
in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
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.
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 of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, consul in 291.
''Roman History''
Dio published a ''Roman History'' (, ''Rhōmaïkḕ Historía'') in 80 books in
Greek, later translated into Latin as the . 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 11 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".
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, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...
of the arrival of the legendary
Aeneas 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. 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. 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 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.
Books 22 through 35, which are only sparsely covered by fragments, were already lost by the times of Zonaras.
''Roman History'', Introduction
Loeb Classical Library.
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
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...
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
Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...
. 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
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
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''
See also
* Herodian
* Roman historiography
* Severan dynasty
* Tacitus
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
*
*
Greek text of Dio's ''Roman History''
at the Perseus Digital Library (Earnest Cary & Herbert Baldwin Foster, Loeb Classical Library, 1914–1927)
Greek text of Dio's ''Roman History''
at Poesia Latina (1914–1927 edition)
*
on LacusCurtius (1914–1927 edition)
Greek text with French Translation
( Étienne Gros and V. Boissée, 1845–1870)
Dio Cassius: the Manuscripts of "The Roman History"
at the Tertullian Project
* Editio princeps
ΤΩΝ ΔΙΩΝΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΪΚΩΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ ΕΙΚΟΣΙΤΡΙΑ ΒΙΒΛΙΑ: Dionis Romanarum historiarum libri XXIII, à XXXVI ad LVIII vsque
, 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
2nd-century Greek writers
2nd-century Romans
3rd-century Greek writers
3rd-century historians
3rd-century Romans
Dio
Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire
Historians from Roman Anatolia
Imperial Roman consuls
People from Nicaea
Roman governors of Africa
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
2nd-century historians