Greek Narratives of the Roman Empire Under the Severans: Cassius Dio, Philostratus and Herodian Book

"The political instability of the Severan Period (AD 193-235) destroyed the High Imperial consensus about the Roman past and caused both rulers and subjects constantly to re-imagine and re-narrate both recent events and the larger shape of Greco-Roman history and cultural identity. This book examines the narratives put out by the new dynasty, and how the literary elite responded with divergent visions of their own. It focuses on four long Greek narrative texts from the period (by Cassius Dio, Philostratus and Herodian), each of which constructs its own version of the empire, each defined by different Greek and Roman elements and each differently affected by dynastic change, especially that from Antonine to Severan. Innovative theories of narrative are used to produce new readings of these works that bring political, literary and cultural perspectives together in a unified presentation of the Severan era as a distinctive historical moment"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Series page 4 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 10 Note on texts and translations 12 Chapter 1 Introduction 15 Chapter 2 From Antonine to Severan 44 Chapter 3 Cassius Dio: the last annalist 104 Chapter 4 Philostratus’ Apollonius: Hellenic perfection on an imperial stage 164 Chapter 5 Philostratus’ Sophists: Hellas’ Antonine Golden Age 210 Chapter 6 Herodian: a dysfunctional Rome 241 Chapter 7 Conclusion: from “Severan” to “third-century” 287 Appendix 295 1 The date of composition of Dio’s history 296 2 The dates and addressees of Philostratus’ Apollonius and Sophists 308 3 The date, scope and author of Herodian’s history 312 Bibliography 323 Index 349