Cassius Dio on Augustus
A Poverty of Annalistic Sources
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3937637 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Michael Swan (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1987 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 272 |
| Publication date | 1987-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Phoenix (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1088195 |
| OpenAlex | W2328644373 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 35 |
WHEN MOUNT VESUVIUS ERUPTED, portending the downfall of the great Plautianus in 205, the roaring volcano could be heard in Capua-some twenty miles away. So Dio tells us. possessed this special knowledge because he had chosen Capua for retreat so that whenever he was in Italy and free from affairs in Rome he could work uninterrupted on Roman History (76.2.1-2). To make provision for studious quiet was the mark of serious historian. So was the decade of research and the still longer period of writing which he devoted to history of Rome from its beginnings down to own time (72.23.5), work which, if we had it all, would run more than 3,000 pages. But the serious historian needs more than place and will to work. needs books. Dio nowhere mentions Capuan library. Still it would have been consistent with historiographic ambition and industry-and with the outlay on sanctuary-for him to have good one.' One may be forgiven, then, for entertaining doubts about standard notion that, in treating the reign of Augustus, Dio was hard up for annalistic sources. In pioneering book on Dio, Millar describes the account of Augustus (Books 51-56) as a medley of diverse elements, among which only very thin can be discerned (100). By chronological narrative (it seems clear) Millar means the annalistic element in Dio. thinks this element is so thin because Dio did not have detailed annalistic source, and he suggests the lack may explain why Dio draws so much on subsidiary sources and on his own knowledge. He may have had no choice.2 Millar is followed by Manuwald in important book on Dio's treatment of Augustus: Dio's annalistic source was sehr wenig detailliert.' Millar and Manuwald both show the influence of Andersen's thesis that the annalistic sections in Dio's account often have their origin not in the annals of
Art · Element (criminal law · Literature · Mount · Narrative · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Reign · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Engineering · History · Law
Seneca the Elder and His Rediscovered ›Historiae Ab Initio Bellorum Civilium‹
The triumviral period
From Nero to Vespasian
The Senate and senatorial and equestrian posts
Augustus
The place of religion
Raetia
Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica
The Administration of Justice
Greece (Including Crete and Cyprus) and Asia Minor From 43 b.c. To a.d. 69
Literature and society
Political history, 30 B.C. to A.D. 14
Rome and its development under Augustus and his successors
The expansion of the empire under Augustus
Provincial administration and taxation
Roman art, 43 B.C. to A.D. 69
Spain
Italy and Rome from Sulla to Augustus
The imperial court
Social status and social legislation
The Imperial finances
Egypt
Tiberius to Nero
Britain 43 B.C. to A.D. 69
The Sibylline Books in the Early Roman Empire
The Cambridge Ancient History
Res Gestae 34.1 and the settlement of 27 b.c
Citizens of the Wor(l)d? Metaphor and the Politics of Roman Language
Cassius Dio's Speeches and the Collapse of the Roman Republic
Female and Dwarf Gladiators
Augustus's Parthian honours, the temple of Mars Ultor and the arch in the Forum Romanum
Strangers in Their Own Land
Cassius Dio the Historian
Valerius Maximus on the Domus Augusta , Augustus, and Tiberius
The Republic in Danger
| Unique citing works | 35 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,09 |
| Citation span | 1994 - 2023 (30) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 35 |