Thucydidean elements in Cassius Dio

Kordoš, Jozef (2010) Thucydidean elements in Cassius Dio. Acta Antiqua, 50 (2-3). pp. 249-256. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

Cassius Dio, a Roman senator with Greek origin, is well known for being a keen imitator of Thucydides. His imitative techniques were quite obvious already to Photius, although, Photius himself does not consider him too attached to his model and praises his style and diction, especially his rhetorical skills. In the first fragment of his Roman History Dio shows awareness that applying certain rhetorical devices to his text (and one may infer that he meant those characteristic of the Thucydidean diction) may provoke criticism, even a suspicion that the account he gives might not be true. It is indeed this feature of the Thucydidean style that had been criticised previously by Dionysius of Halicarnassus at the end of the first century BC, and therefore Dio seems to be defending his style against this kind of criticism.

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