Christopher Mallan
Biographic Data
| ID | 5626191 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher Mallan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher |
| FAMILY NAME | Mallan |
| SIGNATURE | MALLAN C |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Western Australia |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5237-6059 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Vaticanvs Graecvs 156, Cassius Dio and the Lvdi Saecvlares of a.d. 204
A scholium in codex Vaticanus graecus 156 provides evidence that Cassius Dio's Roman History once contained an explicit reference to the ludi saeculares of a.d . 204, something that has been denied in recent scholarship
From Deconstruction to Reconstruction: Cassius Dio’s Roman History in Western Europe, 1421–1750
Sir Richard Morison: An Early Reader of Cassius Dio in Tudor England
Scholars have suggested that Cassius Dio’s Roman History was among the Greek sources used by the 16th century polemicist Sir Richard Morison in two of his treatises from the 1530s. This short article shows that this is not the case. Rather, Morison can be seen to be borrowing from Seneca’s De Clementia and Politian’s Latin translation of Herodian’s History of the Empire after Marcus Aurelius . This conclusion may cast some further light on the pr…
Dio and His Friends: Autobiography and Biography in Cassius Dio’s Contemporary Narrative
As Dio began writing the history of his own time, he began to incorporate his personal experiences into the narrative of the Roman History to the point that the final portion of his history serves as a largely autobiographical sphragis to the Roman History . These final books of his history are central to the construction of historian’s authorial persona and his self-fashioning the embodiment to traditional senatorial virtues. This chapter analys…
Cassius Dio: The Senator and His Caesars
This chapter begins by contextualizing Cassius Dio’s Roman History in the political and literary culture of Severan Rome. From there, it introduces the major themes of this volume, namely the idea of Roman political culture under the Principate, Cassius Dio’s understanding of this culture, and the reception of Dio’s construction of Roman imperial culture after antiquity.
Emperors and Political Culture in Cassius Dio's Roman History
The Roman History of Cassius Dio provides one of the most important continuous narratives of the early Roman empire, spanning the inception of the Principate under Augustus to the turbulent years of the Severan Dynasty. It has been a major influence on how scholars have thought about Roman imperial history, from the Byzantine period down to the present day, as well as being a work of considerable literary sophistication and merit. This book, the …
‘ … But He Possessed a Most Singular Nature’: Cassius Dio on Tiberius
Dio’s portrayal of Tiberius has traditionally suffered by comparison with that of Tacitus. Whereas some have attempted to look beyond such comparisons and to interpret Dio’s Tiberius as a component in a broader narrative discourse about the nature of Roman imperial power, questions still remain as to how we should read Dio’s portrayal of this most cryptic of emperors. In this chapter, Mallan looks for the unifying themes of Dio’s pre- and post-ac…
Speeches and Speech Units in Herodian: The Limitations of Rhetoric
Herodian and the Crisis of Emperorship, 235-238 AD
This article examines Herodian’s portrayal of the rise and fall of Roman emperors and usurpers in Books 7 and 8 of his History (covering the years 235-238 AD ). Herodian’s narrative provides its readers with a perceptive account of the challenges faced by Rome’s rulers during the middle decades of the third century AD. Emperors had to defend the frontiers while cultivating the support of the army, the senate, and the people of Rome and the provin…
Plautianus' Zebras: A Roman Expedition to East Africa in the Early Third Century
The kleptocratic supremacy of the praetorian prefect C. Fulvius Plautianus ( PIR 2 F 554) was felt throughout the city of Rome, the Empire and (according to one author) even beyond the imperial frontiers. Indeed, for the senatorial historian Dio Cassius, there was no more picturesque demonstration of Plautianus' acquisitiveness than his seizure of strange striped horse-like creatures from ‘islands in the Erythraean Sea’. The passage, as preserved…
Parrhêsia in Cassius Dio
The story of how parrhêsia (“freedom of speech” or “frank speech”) went from a political liberty under the Republic to an indulgence under the Principate is one of the underexplored themes of the Late Republican and Imperial books of Dio’s Roman History. The theme was an old one as Tacitus and others had discussed the decline of libertas and eloquentia following the triumph of Augustus. But the scope of Dio’s work allowed him to explore the use (…
Tiberius the Goat: An Addition to Champlin’s ‘Mallonia’
The Book Indices in the Manuscripts of Cassius Dio
At some point before the late fifth century a.d. an unidentified writer compiled and affixed to each book of Dio's Roman History an index, most notably comprising a table of contents and an excerpt of the consular fasti . Of dubious provenance these paratexts have played a peripheral role in the editorial history of the work. Bekker and Dindorf, with somewhat puritanical zeal, removed them from the main text of their editions of the Roman History…
Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment ( Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192 v –193 r )
This article presents an English translation and analysis of a new historical fragment, probably from Dexippus’ Scythica , published by Gunther Martin and Jana Grusková in 2014. The fragment, preserved in a palimpsest in the Austrian National Library, describes a Gothic attack on Thessalonica and the subsequent preparations of the Greeks to repel the barbarian force as it moved south into Achaia. The new text provides several important details of…
Hadrian’s Adoption Speech in Cassius Dio’s Roman History and the Problems of Imperial Succession
The adoption of Antoninus Pius provided Cassius Dio with the opportunity to insert into his narrative a speech delivered by Hadrian justifying the selection of his successor (69.20.1–5). This article examines the content of the speech and its relationship to Dio’s own thoughts on the mechanics of imperial succession expressed elsewhere in the Roman History . It is argued that the speech articulates Dio’s ideal mode of succession, which sees the p…
The Rape of Lucretia in Cassius Dio's Roman History
We are told that when news of Caracalla's death reached Rome a group of senators denounced their former emperor, likening him to all the tyrants of the past who had ruled over them. The senator who recorded these actions, the historian Cassius Dio, does not say which tyrants were listed, but it is likely that such a comprehensive list included the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and his son Sextus. The senators' actions were doubtless mor…
Cassius Dio on Julia Domna: A Study of the Political and Ethical Functions of Biographical Representation in Dio’s Roman History
Of the individuals who appear in the closing books of Cassius Dio’s Roman History , there is perhaps none more beguiling than Julia Domna. Dio’s account of the life of Domna is the fullest surviving from antiquity. Yet, Dio’s portrayal of Domna is not a miscellany of facts about the empress, and thus should not be treated as such. Rather, it is a contrived literary portrayal that fulfilled important moralizing functions within the Severan narrati…
Hadrian’s Adoption Speech in Cassius Dio’s Roman History and the Problems of Imperial Succession
The adoption of Antoninus Pius provided Cassius Dio with the opportunity to insert into his narrative a speech delivered by Hadrian justifying the selection of his successor (69.20.1–5). This article examines the content of the speech and its relationship to Dio’s own thoughts on the mechanics of imperial succession expressed elsewhere in the Roman History . It is argued that the speech articulates Dio’s ideal mode of succession, which sees the p…
Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment ( Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192 v –193 r )
This article presents an English translation and analysis of a new historical fragment, probably from Dexippus’ Scythica , published by Gunther Martin and Jana Grusková in 2014. The fragment, preserved in a palimpsest in the Austrian National Library, describes a Gothic attack on Thessalonica and the subsequent preparations of the Greeks to repel the barbarian force as it moved south into Achaia. The new text provides several important details of…
Cassius Dio on Julia Domna: A Study of the Political and Ethical Functions of Biographical Representation in Dio’s Roman History
Of the individuals who appear in the closing books of Cassius Dio’s Roman History , there is perhaps none more beguiling than Julia Domna. Dio’s account of the life of Domna is the fullest surviving from antiquity. Yet, Dio’s portrayal of Domna is not a miscellany of facts about the empress, and thus should not be treated as such. Rather, it is a contrived literary portrayal that fulfilled important moralizing functions within the Severan narrati…
The Rape of Lucretia in Cassius Dio's Roman History
We are told that when news of Caracalla's death reached Rome a group of senators denounced their former emperor, likening him to all the tyrants of the past who had ruled over them. The senator who recorded these actions, the historian Cassius Dio, does not say which tyrants were listed, but it is likely that such a comprehensive list included the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and his son Sextus. The senators' actions were doubtless mor…
Cassius Dio on Julia Domna: A Study of the Political and Ethical Functions of Biographical Representation in Dio’s Roman History
Of the individuals who appear in the closing books of Cassius Dio’s Roman History , there is perhaps none more beguiling than Julia Domna. Dio’s account of the life of Domna is the fullest surviving from antiquity. Yet, Dio’s portrayal of Domna is not a miscellany of facts about the empress, and thus should not be treated as such. Rather, it is a contrived literary portrayal that fulfilled important moralizing functions within the Severan narrati…
Hadrian’s Adoption Speech in Cassius Dio’s Roman History and the Problems of Imperial Succession
The adoption of Antoninus Pius provided Cassius Dio with the opportunity to insert into his narrative a speech delivered by Hadrian justifying the selection of his successor (69.20.1–5). This article examines the content of the speech and its relationship to Dio’s own thoughts on the mechanics of imperial succession expressed elsewhere in the Roman History . It is argued that the speech articulates Dio’s ideal mode of succession, which sees the p…
The Rape of Lucretia in Cassius Dio's Roman History
We are told that when news of Caracalla's death reached Rome a group of senators denounced their former emperor, likening him to all the tyrants of the past who had ruled over them. The senator who recorded these actions, the historian Cassius Dio, does not say which tyrants were listed, but it is likely that such a comprehensive list included the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and his son Sextus. The senators' actions were doubtless mor…
Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment ( Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192 v –193 r )
This article presents an English translation and analysis of a new historical fragment, probably from Dexippus’ Scythica , published by Gunther Martin and Jana Grusková in 2014. The fragment, preserved in a palimpsest in the Austrian National Library, describes a Gothic attack on Thessalonica and the subsequent preparations of the Greeks to repel the barbarian force as it moved south into Achaia. The new text provides several important details of…
Parrhêsia in Cassius Dio
The story of how parrhêsia (“freedom of speech” or “frank speech”) went from a political liberty under the Republic to an indulgence under the Principate is one of the underexplored themes of the Late Republican and Imperial books of Dio’s Roman History. The theme was an old one as Tacitus and others had discussed the decline of libertas and eloquentia following the triumph of Augustus. But the scope of Dio’s work allowed him to explore the use (…
Tiberius the Goat: An Addition to Champlin’s ‘Mallonia’
The Book Indices in the Manuscripts of Cassius Dio
At some point before the late fifth century a.d. an unidentified writer compiled and affixed to each book of Dio's Roman History an index, most notably comprising a table of contents and an excerpt of the consular fasti . Of dubious provenance these paratexts have played a peripheral role in the editorial history of the work. Bekker and Dindorf, with somewhat puritanical zeal, removed them from the main text of their editions of the Roman History…
Herodian and the Crisis of Emperorship, 235-238 AD
This article examines Herodian’s portrayal of the rise and fall of Roman emperors and usurpers in Books 7 and 8 of his History (covering the years 235-238 AD ). Herodian’s narrative provides its readers with a perceptive account of the challenges faced by Rome’s rulers during the middle decades of the third century AD. Emperors had to defend the frontiers while cultivating the support of the army, the senate, and the people of Rome and the provin…
Plautianus' Zebras: A Roman Expedition to East Africa in the Early Third Century
The kleptocratic supremacy of the praetorian prefect C. Fulvius Plautianus ( PIR 2 F 554) was felt throughout the city of Rome, the Empire and (according to one author) even beyond the imperial frontiers. Indeed, for the senatorial historian Dio Cassius, there was no more picturesque demonstration of Plautianus' acquisitiveness than his seizure of strange striped horse-like creatures from ‘islands in the Erythraean Sea’. The passage, as preserved…
Dio and His Friends: Autobiography and Biography in Cassius Dio’s Contemporary Narrative
As Dio began writing the history of his own time, he began to incorporate his personal experiences into the narrative of the Roman History to the point that the final portion of his history serves as a largely autobiographical sphragis to the Roman History . These final books of his history are central to the construction of historian’s authorial persona and his self-fashioning the embodiment to traditional senatorial virtues. This chapter analys…
Cassius Dio: The Senator and His Caesars
This chapter begins by contextualizing Cassius Dio’s Roman History in the political and literary culture of Severan Rome. From there, it introduces the major themes of this volume, namely the idea of Roman political culture under the Principate, Cassius Dio’s understanding of this culture, and the reception of Dio’s construction of Roman imperial culture after antiquity.
Emperors and Political Culture in Cassius Dio's Roman History
The Roman History of Cassius Dio provides one of the most important continuous narratives of the early Roman empire, spanning the inception of the Principate under Augustus to the turbulent years of the Severan Dynasty. It has been a major influence on how scholars have thought about Roman imperial history, from the Byzantine period down to the present day, as well as being a work of considerable literary sophistication and merit. This book, the …
‘ … But He Possessed a Most Singular Nature’: Cassius Dio on Tiberius
Dio’s portrayal of Tiberius has traditionally suffered by comparison with that of Tacitus. Whereas some have attempted to look beyond such comparisons and to interpret Dio’s Tiberius as a component in a broader narrative discourse about the nature of Roman imperial power, questions still remain as to how we should read Dio’s portrayal of this most cryptic of emperors. In this chapter, Mallan looks for the unifying themes of Dio’s pre- and post-ac…
Speeches and Speech Units in Herodian: The Limitations of Rhetoric
Sir Richard Morison: An Early Reader of Cassius Dio in Tudor England
Scholars have suggested that Cassius Dio’s Roman History was among the Greek sources used by the 16th century polemicist Sir Richard Morison in two of his treatises from the 1530s. This short article shows that this is not the case. Rather, Morison can be seen to be borrowing from Seneca’s De Clementia and Politian’s Latin translation of Herodian’s History of the Empire after Marcus Aurelius . This conclusion may cast some further light on the pr…
Vaticanvs Graecvs 156, Cassius Dio and the Lvdi Saecvlares of a.d. 204
A scholium in codex Vaticanus graecus 156 provides evidence that Cassius Dio's Roman History once contained an explicit reference to the ludi saeculares of a.d . 204, something that has been denied in recent scholarship
From Deconstruction to Reconstruction: Cassius Dio’s Roman History in Western Europe, 1421–1750
Classical Antiquity Studies (17 works) · Art (14 works) · History (14 works) · Literature (13 works) · Ancient history (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Classics (7 works) · History (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works)