Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War

Carsten Hjort Lange

doi:10.1163/9789004461604_015

Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War

Department of Politics and Society

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

From Thucydides to Kalyvas, civil war is associated with wickedness and personal animosities. This contribution seeks to view the violence of the Late Republican civil war through the lens applied to it by Cassius Dio. It focusses on Dio’s portrayal of the use of violence by Young Caesar upon the fall of Perusia early in 40 BCE—allegedly followed by the killing of three hundred Senators and equites as well as the Perusine citizens. Violence was not only a conspicuous part of civil war, but also had a distinct purpose—viz. the elimination of personal enemies and the confirmation of power. This use of indiscriminate as opposed to selective violence speaks volumes about the balance of power in Italy: Young Caesar was not in total control in 41-40 BCE. Dio did not wholeheartedly commit to the story of the three hundred, but he still mentions it: clearly this concerns not only Dio’s wish to understand human nature and the leading civil war protagonists; it concerns also the impact of civil war, and the historian’s approach to it through narrative.

Keywords: Roman historiography; civil war

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Cassius Dio the Historian : Methods and Approaches
Editors	Carsten Hjort Lange, Jesper Majbom Madsen
Number of pages	26
Place of Publication	Leiden and Boston
Publisher	Brill
Publication date	27 May 2021
Pages	336-362
Chapter	13
ISBN (Print)	978-90-04-46148-2
ISBN (Electronic)	978-90-04-46160-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004461604_015
Publication status	Published - 27 May 2021
Event	Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches/Call for papers - SDU, Odense , Denmark Duration: 7 Dec 2016 → 9 Dec 2016

Conference

Conference	Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches/Call for papers
Location	SDU
Country/Territory	Denmark
City	Odense
Period	07/12/2016 → 09/12/2016

Series	Historiography of Rome and Its Empire
Volume	10

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10.1163/9789004461604_015

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abstract = "From Thucydides to Kalyvas, civil war is associated with wickedness and personal animosities. This contribution seeks to view the violence of the Late Republican civil war through the lens applied to it by Cassius Dio. It focusses on Dio{\textquoteright}s portrayal of the use of violence by Young Caesar upon the fall of Perusia early in 40 BCE—allegedly followed by the killing of three hundred Senators and equites as well as the Perusine citizens. Violence was not only a conspicuous part of civil war, but also had a distinct purpose—viz. the elimination of personal enemies and the confirmation of power. This use of indiscriminate as opposed to selective violence speaks volumes about the balance of power in Italy: Young Caesar was not in total control in 41-40 BCE. Dio did not wholeheartedly commit to the story of the three hundred, but he still mentions it: clearly this concerns not only Dio{\textquoteright}s wish to understand human nature and the leading civil war protagonists; it concerns also the impact of civil war, and the historian{\textquoteright}s approach to it through narrative.Keywords: Roman historiography; civil war",

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Lange, CH 2021, Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War. in CH Lange & JM Madsen (eds), Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches. Brill, Leiden and Boston, Historiography of Rome and Its Empire, vol. 10, pp. 336-362, Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches/Call for papers, Odense , Denmark, 07/12/2016. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004461604_015

Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War. / Lange, Carsten Hjort.
Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches. ed. / Carsten Hjort Lange; Jesper Majbom Madsen. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021. p. 336-362 (Historiography of Rome and Its Empire, Vol. 10).

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

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Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War

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Cassius Dio: Between History and Politics (Forskernetværk, FKK)

Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches

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Cassius Dio on Perusia: A Study in Human Nature During Civil War

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UN SDGs

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Cassius Dio: Between History and Politics (Forskernetværk, FKK)

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Cassius Dio the Historian: Methods and Approaches

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