Cassius Dio

Greco-Roman statesman and historian (c. 155–c. 235)

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Lived 150–235, aged 85Turkey

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64 languages
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Era
150–235
Aged 85

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

A Roman senator who spent 22 years writing 80 volumes of history in Greek — covering a thousand years from Aeneas to the third century — and saw enough of it survive that later centuries could piece together what Rome actually did to itself.

Biography

About

Lucius Cassius Dio was born around 165, a senator of maternal Greek origin who served the empire while chronicling its entire arc. He began with Aeneas arriving in Italy and worked forward through the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the Republic's formation in 509 BC, and the Empire's creation in 27 BC, writing in Koine Greek until he reached 229 AD and the reign of Severus Alexander. The project consumed 22 years and produced 80 volumes. Many survived whole; others were preserved through summaries by Xiphilinus, an 11th-century Byzantine monk, and Zonaras, a 12th-century chronicler who kept the t…

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