Transcript DIO CASSIUS
DIO CASSIUS (or Cassius Dio, you do you) Life and Death • Lucius Cassius Dio was born in either 150 A.D. or 155 A.D. or 164 A.D. (the sources really can’t agree) and he died in 235 A.D. (they all seem to agree). • He was “Greek by birth [a] Roman by conviction, and one of the greatest historians of Antiquity.” • He became a Roman Senator in 180 A.D. , when he goes to Rome • He was made consul twice, separately in 220 A.D. and 229 A.D. • He served as governor Dalmatia and Pannonia (226 A.D. and 227 A.D.), and as proconsul in Africa in 223 A.D. Cool, But…. no one really cares about that... Literary Work (A.K.A. Why we care about him) • Author of Romaika or Roman History (211-233) • Written in Greek • It is composed of 80 books, only 19 of which survive in their entirety. • Especially significant for being an authority on the End of the Republic and the Early Empire. • The history begins with the founding myth of Aeneas from the Aeneid and concludes with his own career (229 A.D.). So it is approximately the history of a thousand years. • Some parts are preserved in later works by John VII Xiphilinus and Johannes Zonaras. Problems with Roman History Two BIG ones and two small ones 1. He mentions the Gods as historical figures a lot, I mean like a lot a lot. 2. He follows the fashion of historical writing in his day (but can you really blame him?) 3.Annalistic record of events. 4.Bias favoring the Empire and its emperors over the republic. Relation to today’s readings “Thus were parts of Britain captured at that time. Later when Gaius Crispus and Titus Statilius were consuls, the former for the second time, Claudius came to Rome after an absence of six months, of which he has spent only sixteen days in Britain, and celebrated his triumph.” - Ireland #61 Dio Cassius (2nd-3rd C. AD) LX, 23, AD 441 •1. Ireland, S. Roman Britain: a sourcebook. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. 50. Obligatory Element of Class Discussion When considering Dio Cassius bias favoring the empire and emperors over the republic does this change the way scholars should approach the text in Roman History? Bibliography •Lendering, Jona. "Cassius Dio." Cassius Dio - Livius. August 18, 2015. Accessed January 24, 2017. http://www.livius.org/articles/person/cassius-dio/. •The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Dio Cassius." Encyclopædia Britannica. April 14, 2008. Accessed January 24, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dio-Cassius. •Foster, Herbert B. "Roman History, Volume VIII." Roman History, Volume VIII — Dio Cassius | Harvard University Press. Accessed January 24, 2017. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674991958. •Ireland, S. Roman Britain: a sourcebook. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. •"Dio Cassius." In The Columbia Encyclopedia, by Paul Lagasse, and Columbia University. Columbia University Press, 2016. http://proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/dio_ cassius/0 •Rich, John William. "Cassius Dio." In Who's Who in the Classical World. : Oxford University Press, 2003. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192801074.001.0001/acref9780192801074-e-119. • Dio Cassius. Roman History, Volume I: Books 1-11. Translated by Earnest Cary, Herbert B. Foster. Loeb Classical Library 32. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914. The End