Cassius Dio(163-235)
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Cassius Dio was a Greek historian and Roman official. He was the son of
Cassius Apronianus, governor of Cilicia and Dalmatia, and may have been
a descendant of the Greek orator and philosopher Dio Chrysostom. Dio
Cassius came to Rome at the age of 16, in the early years of the reign
of Commodus (180-192 AD), under whom he subsequently became a member of
the Roman Senate. During the brief principate of Pertinax (193) he was
nominated to a praetorship, which he held in the following year after
the accession of Septimius Severus. In 205 he served as consul, and
during the reign of Severus Alexander (222-35) was appointed
successively to the governorships of Africa, Dalmatia, and Upper
Pannonia. In 229 he became consul again, as the colleague of the
emperor himself. However, he did not spend his year of office in Rome,
since the unpopularity of his strict discipline with the soldiers and
praetorian guardsmen prompted the emperor to suggest that he should
absent himself from the city. Leaving the public service, Dio withdrew
to his native Bithynia, where he apparently remained. He wrote, in
Greek, a Roman history in 80 books (of which 26 survive), covering the
period from the founding of the city to AD 229, including the only
surviving account of the invasion of Britain by Claudius 43 BC. Dio's
history took him 10 years to prepare and 12 more to write. The
principal value of the work lies in the period from A.D. 180 onward,
during which time Dio's own official career enabled him, as an
importantly placed eyewitness, to collect firsthand information. Dio
also wrote a biography of Arrian, and an account of the dreams and
portents of Septimius Severus, but both these works are lost.