The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus

by Cassius Dio

Book Overview

Following Rome's long road to peace after decades of civil war, Cassius Dio provides the fullest account of the reign of the first emperor in Books 50 through 60 of his Roman History.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140444483
• ISBN13: 9780140444483
• Release Date: July 1987
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

For initiates only

Cassius Dio was a Roman senator and imperial administrator of Greek origin who lived in the third century AD. He wrote a Roman History that ran from the mythical foundation of the city to his own time. This edition includes books 50 to 56, covering the end of the first century BC civil wars and the reign of Augustus. Cassius Dio is an invaluable written source on the period, as one of only three extant surviving narrative pieces on it. Readers expecting to gain a complete, or even an accurate, view of Augustus based on his books, however, should beware. This only offers material to be considered alongside other, sometimes conflicting sources (Suetonius, Tacitus, the Res Gestae, or more easily digestible secondary works). Cassius Dio's format, furthermore, can be difficult to follow, alternating between annalistic writing and thematic information presented as dialogues or speeches. The dialogues, of course, are invented, and were a typical tool of ancient writers to present views and analysis without seeming to do so in their own voice. Long exposés by Agrippa and Maecenas, for example, serve as a description of Augustus' constitutional innovations and the system of imperial rule. But whereas Thucydides, the first to use such speeches, could claim to have heard the originals or spoken to people who had, Cassius Dio could have done no such thing after 200 years. Thus anachronisms crept into his text, such as on provincial organisation and government, or the legions' list. This is to be read by people already well versed in the topic.

The Roman History

Cassius Dio is one of the best historians of Roman history.His account of the massacre in the Teutoberg Forest is really factual and true to life as well detailing the treachery of Arminius and the stupidity of Varus. I would reccomend this book to any Roman historian or even a novice who is just fascinated by the great power and majesty of the ancient Roman Empire and the ancient Roman warriors! Jim lazar

Inform mostly about the author's mindframe.

Ancient History had always been pragmatical and worried itself about military and diplomatic information useful to statesmen of the future. Dio's history is a part of that tradition, coming, however, in Later Antiquity, were possibilities of participating in political life were restrained to those enrolled in the Imperial service, such as Dio, a Greek with consular rank who made his carrer during the already burocratic and militarized monarchy of the Severan dinasty. Therefore, Dio is concerned mostly with the only political question remaining in his day: what are the moral qualities that make the absolute ruler whorthy of praise and therefore make him deserve to be pointed as an exemple to future rulers? Therefore the fancy, retorical accounts (the account of Actium being so fanciful as to remind one of a Xena script) and the endlessly imaginary speechs on all kinds of moral topics. In short, Ancient historiography as it begins to turn into the kind of moral encomia to rulers that would make most of Mediaeval "Political" literature. Informs more about Dio's mentality as a man of Late Antiquity than about the Reign of Augustus - therefore its utility, which is great,as a chapter of a history of mentalities.