A Thousand Years of Roman History: Cassius Dio’s Roman History from Foundation to Alexander Severus

In the third century, the historian Cassius Dio wrote a work covering the history of Rome from the moment Aeneas’ arrival in Italy in the mythical past to the year 229 ce when Dio, after a long life in politics and a successful career in the imperial administration, retired to Nicaea in western Asia Minor. Judging from what has survived of his Roman History, Dio’s overall focus was the history of Rome and the Roman Empire. Other empires, like the Parthian kingdom and Carthage, find their way into the narrative only when they had direct dealings with the Romans. However, it still makes sense to read Dio through the prism of universal history, both because he covers Rome’s history in its totality and because his account of Roman politics consistently constitutes a more critical and less patriotic assessment, particularly concerning early Rome, than the one we find in the parallel sources.