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Document Details : Title: The Perception of Emperor and Empire in Cassius Dio's Roman History Author(s): DE BLOIS, L. Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 29 Date: 1998-1999 Pages: 267-281 DOI: 10.2143/AS.29.0.630060 Abstract : In two articles, one on Sallust’s view of Roman expansion and another on Plutarch’s perception of Roman politics, I proposed that these authors only recorded the final outcome of historical processes, showing their awareness of the observable facts without establishing connections that in our view are obvious. They explained the facts in a general moralistic way, employing traditional views and clichés to put things in order and interpreting historical reality on the basis of ideologically or philosophically biased explanations. In other words, they put perceptive individual observations into the perspective of oversimplified traditional reasoning. In this paper I want to answer the following questions: did Cassius Dio in his Roman History perceive the Roman Empire, its emperors and imperial authority in a similar way? What factors, mental attitudes, interests and vicissitudes guided his perception? |
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