Cassius Dio

by

David Wardle

• LAST REVIEWED: 25 June 2013
• LAST MODIFIED: 25 June 2013
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0145

Introduction

The surviving books of Cassius Dio’s Roman history (those that have survived intact and those preserved by Byzantine epitomators or exceptors) provide the most detailed, extended account of Roman history from the legendary beginnings of the city to AD 229 and for much of this period are the only surviving annalistic account. Written in Greek by the descendant of a distinguished family from Nicaea in Bithynia who rose to hold the consulship twice, Dio’s eighty-volume Roman history includes much from his firsthand interaction with Roman emperors and is a crucial source of evidence for the perception of Roman rule by Greeks and for the misunderstanding of the Republican and early imperial periods in particular by those living under the developed imperial system.

Bibliographies

Despite his importance as a source for Roman history, Dio has been thought worthy of only of one major, comprehensive bibliography. Martinelli 1999 and the subsequent update in Martinelli 2002 provide summaries of around fifty years of modern scholarly discussions of Dio. The various contributions to ANRW II 34.3 (see Haase 1997, cited under Collections of Articles) provide substantial but partial bibliographies.

• Martinelli, Giovanna. 1999. L’ultimo secolo di studi su Cassio Dione. Genoa, Italy: Accademia Ligure di Scienze e Lettere.

  A useful summary of 473 pieces of modern scholarship published between 1951 and 1995 and of eleven editions or translations.

• Martinelli, Giovanna. 2002. Nuovi studi su Cassio Dione. Rivista storica dell’antichità 32:259–270.

  A collection of scholarly items on Dio to be added to her 1999 monograph.