Roman senate’s activity as a factor of political instability in Cassius Dio’ «Ro-man History»

Author(s):  K.V. Markov, candidate of Sciences, associate Professor, Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, mkv_2003@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 45, № 4

Rubric:  Topical issues of political science

Annotation:  The aim of the article is to the study the peculiarities of Cassius Dio’s representation of the Roman Senate in times of political instability and civil wars of the late Republic and the Principate. The study shows that the author’s interpretation of the Senate's role in such events as the political struggle of the 50 – s BCE, the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and the civil wars of the 40 – s BCE, the coming to power of Galba and Otho has a noticeable specificity in comparison with the previous historiography of the republican and imperial Rome. Dio’s conceptualization of these events is manifested, first of all, in the application of a certain set of explanatory models formed under the influence of the live issues of relations between the emperors and the Senate under the Severans and reflects the author's intention to make the narrative paradigmatic sounds.

Keywords:  Ancient Rome, the Roman Senate, Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Cassius Dio.

Full text (PDF):  Download

Downloads count:  476