An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (Historiography of Rome and Its Empire, 18)

An original and penetrating historiographic study of the final portion of Cassius Dio’s Roman History , including the reign of Commodus and the Severan dynasty. Contents 8 Historiography of Rome and Its Empire Series 10 Acknowledgments 11 Introduction: Cassius Dio in the Age of Iron and Rust 12 1 Survey of Scholarship on Cassius Dio’s Roman History 16 2 The Remains of the Contemporary Books 20 3 Approaching the Contemporary History 23 4 Plan of This Study 26 Cassius Dio’s Literary Career 30 1 The Work on Dreams and Portents 31 2 The Work on Wars and Civil Wars 33 3 Cassius Dio’s Roman History 39 4 Conclusion 47 Cassius Dio and the Historiographic Tradition 49 1 Writing Roman History ab urbe condita 50 2 Writing under Autocracy 52 3 Greek Constitutional Analysis 61 4 Cassius Dio’s Roman History 63 5 Conclusion 72 Cassius Dio and the Roman Monarchy 74 1 Monarchy v. Democracy 75 2 Young Caesar’s Choice: Between Monarchy and Tyranny 77 3 The Roman Monarchy: Decline and Renewal 84 4 Good v. Bad Emperors 95 5 Conclusion 97 Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Historical Method in Cassius Dio’s Contemporary History 99 1 Cassius Dio on Marcus Aurelius 100 2 Marcus Aurelius and Commodus: A Study in Contrasts 104 3 From Marcus to Commodus: The Role of the Historian 110 4 Conclusion 122 The Depiction of Septimius Severus: Content and Structure 124 1 Septimius Severus in Rome 126 2 Septimius Severus’ Civil Wars and Eastern Campaigns 131 3 Septimius Severus’ decennalia and the Role of Plautianus 140 4 Coda: Septimius Severus in Britain 144 5 Conclusion 146 Mixed Depictions: Pertinax, Septimius Severus, and Macrinus 148 1 Cassius Dio’s Obituary for Septimius Severus 151 2 The Obituaries of Septimius Severus and Marcus Aurelius 155 3 Other Mixed Depictions in the Contemporary Books 158 4 The Mixed Depiction of Pertinax 158 5 The Mixed Depiction of Macrinus 163 6 Conclusion: Reading Dio’s Mixed Depictions 168 Caracalla and the Limits of Dynastic Succession 171 1 Approaching Caracalla 172 2 Caracalla and Geta: A Broken Dynasty Exposed 173 3 Caracalla: An Emperor Isolated and Alone 177 4 Caracalla on Campaign 180 5 Caracalla and the Senate 184 6 Caracalla’s End 186 7 The Content of Cassius Dio’s Account 187 8 Conclusion 190 The Re-creation of the Severan Dynasty: From Macrinus to Severus Alexander 192 1 Macrinus, Equestrian Emperor 193 2 From Caracalla to Elagabalus: The Role of Julia Domna 200 3 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Elagabalus): Making Mockery? 204 4 And in the End: Severus Alexander 210 5 Conclusion 212 Conclusion: Out of the Dust and Slaughter 214 1 The Importance of Writing Contemporary History 214 2 Cassius Dio and the History of His Own Time 218 3 Senatorial History in a Period of Decline 221 Bibliography 224 General Index 243 Index Locorum 258 Cassius Dio described his own age as one of 'iron and rust'? This study, which is the first of its kind in English, examines the decline and decay that Cassius Dio diagnosed in this period (180-229 CE) through an analysis of the author's historiographic method and narrative construction. It shows that the final books were a crucial part of Dio's work, and it explains how Dio approached a period that he considered unworthy of history in view of his larger historiographic project