This historical commentary examines books 79(78)-80(80) of Cassius Dio's Roman History, which cover the period from the death of Caracalla in A. D. 217. to the reign of Severus Alexander and Cassius Dio's retirement from political life in 229. Cassius Dio, a Roman Senator, provides a valuable eyewitness account of this turbulent period, which was marked by the assassination of Caracalla, the rise of Macrinus, Rome's first equestrian emperor, and his subsequent overthrow, the tempestuous, and by all accounts peculiar, reign of Elagabalus, and the continuation of the Severan dynasty under the young Severus Alexander. In addition to elucidating important passages from these books, this study assesses Cassius Dio's political life and its relationship to his literary career; his call to history and time of composition; his historical method; and his attitude toward and subsequent presentation of the later Severan dynasty. In its investigation of books 79(78)-80(80), the work assesses an important stretch of Dio's actual text, which for other parts has been preserved largely in epitome and excerpts. Finally, the work aims to fill a gap in scholarship, as no commentary on these books of Cassius Dio's history has been produced since the nineteenth century, and its publication coincides with a renewed interest in the history and historiography of the Severan period.

Cassius Dio and the Late Roman Republic offers new understandings of Dio’s late republican narrative both as a well-informed historical source and a skillful narrative informed by the rich tradition of Greco-Roman history writing.

In a radical change of approach, Cassius Dio’s Forgotten History of Early Rome illuminates the least explored and understood part of Cassius Dio’s enormous Roman History: the first two decads, which span over half a millennium of history and constitute a quarter of Dio’s work. Combining literary and historiographical perspectives with source-criticism and textual analysis for the first time in the study of Dio’s early books, this collection of chapters demonstrates the integral place of ‘early Rome’ within the text as a whole and Dio’s distinctive approach to this semi-mythical period. By focussing on these hitherto neglected portions of the text, this volume seeks to further the ongoing reappraisal of one of Rome’s most significant but traditionally under-appreciated historians.

"This commentary pays close critical attention to Dio's historical sources, methods, and assumptions as it also strives to present him as a figure in his own right. During a long life (ca. 164-after 229), Dio served as a Roman senator under seven emperors from Commodus to Severus Alexander, governed three Roman provinces, and was twice consul."--BOOK JACKET.

This volume offers an introduction to the life and work of the 3rd-century-AD Greco-Roman senator and historian Cassius Dio, whose work, although imperfectly preserved in 80 books, is of fundamental importance to our understanding of Roman history. It is said that Dio is not one of the best ancient historians and his Roman history, due to its sheer size, is often imprecise and superficial in its analysis. It has also been assumed that there was no political agenda behind the work, and that Dio's principal value to us is as a reliable copyist, who mediated the works of other, and better sources. This introduction to his life and work offers a different picture. Here, Dio is presented through his Greek cultural lens as a politician with a clear vision for how Roman politics and government should be organized. Carefully selected examples will be the starting points for fresh critical analysis of Dio's work and its legacy, both in antiquity and through to the Enlightenment. The book assumes no familiarity with Cassius Dio, his writing or context. All text will be translated and suggested further reading will point readers towards avenues for more detailed study.

Cassius Dio: The Impact of Violence, War, and Civil War is part of a renewed interest in the Roman historian Cassius Dio. This volume focuses on Dio’s approaches to foreign war and stasis as well as civil war.

This book analyses the literary strategies that Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Suetonius apply in depicting the eccentric emperors Nero and Domitian and their imperial representation.

Winner of the 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award Cassius Dio: Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician, a collection of essays on this historian, is the first to appear in the new Brill series Historiography of Rome and Its Empire. The volume brings together case studies that highlight various aspects of Dio’s Roman History, focusing on previously ignored or misunderstood aspects of his narrative. The main purpose of the volume is to pursue a combined historiographic, literary and rhetorical analysis of Dio’s work and of its political and intellectual agendas. Dio's work is often used as a handy resource, with scholars looking at isolated sections of his annalistic structure. Contrary to this approach, the volume puts emphasis on Cassius Dio and his Roman History in its historiographical setting, thus allowing us to link and understand the different parts of his work.