SOURCES FOR THE 70s-40s BC; Thumbnail Sketches of Roman Historians

By Brian Sanders

All of these and other sources are available in translation at the Attalus On Line Library for Roman History

Polybius - Universal History 220-146 BC – explained the rise of Rome to a Greek audience. Very fragmentary, but complete sections for First Punic War and for Wars in the Greek East (2^nd Cent. BC)

Diodorus of Sicily - 60 BC historical continuator, universal history from Classical Greece to Late Republic, mostly in fragments

Livy,

Plutarch - 90 AD, parallel lives

Livy, Augustan era, History of Rome 142 Books, 1-20 (to 390s BC), books 21-45 (Hannibalic War to War with Perseus, 172 BC; writing after 20 BC - 14 AD History of Rome in 142 books, 1-10, 20-45 likely sources: Annales Maximi, Valerius Antias 74 Books; Fabius Pictor, Livius Salinator Periochae, Epitomes (abridgments of this work); Florus, Eutropius, Orosius, later epitomators.

Cassius Dio – Roman senator of 3^rd cent. AD (Greek), Universal History; Dio Cassius was a wealthy Greek from Nicaea (Mellor HAR 539, Boardman 341), born around the year 164 CE (Mellor HAR 539). His father was consul around 180 CE (Mellor HAR 539, Boardman 341), so Dio visited Rome around that time (Mellor HAR 539). He became quaestor by 190 CE (Mellor HAR 539) and held the consulship twice (Mellor HAR 539, Boardman 341). He was governor of Pannonia in the late 220s (Boardman 341). He wrote in Greek (Mellor RH 2, 112). Though he was sympathetic to imperial power (Mellor HAR 539), he provides a harsh portrayal of Tiberius (Mellor RH 94). He wrote one of the only surviving accounts of the life of Hadrian (Mellor RH 163). Dio researched his Roman History for ten years, and then took more than ten years to write it (Mellor HAR 539). He died in the 230s CE (Mellor HAR 539).

Appian, late first early second century AD, Wars of Rome; Roman Civil Wars Appian was born in Alexandria around the year 95 CE (Mellor HAR 65). He became a Roman citizen and “held high office at the court of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE)” (Mellor HAR 65). He wrote in Greek (Mellor RH 112) but used both Greek and Latin sources (Mellor HAR 65), including fragments of Augustus’ autobiography (Mellor RH 178). He wrote the Romaika, “a history of Rome’s wars”, and about ten of the original twenty-four books survive (Mellor HAR 65). In his works, he emphasized “the centrality of Egypt and the superiority of monarchical government” (Mellor HAR 65). Appian died in the 160s CE (Mellor HAR 65).

Velleius Paterculus, a Roman senator and general under Emperor Tiberius (14-37 AD)

Plutarch, late first century AD, -- Roman senator from Greek Boeotia, Parallel Lives; Plutarch was from Chaeronia in Boeotia (Boardman 257) and was born around 45 CE. He was a Greek writer living under Roman rule (Mellor RH 2) and he learned Platonist philosophy in Athens (Boardman 257). He was influenced by “a range of Greek biographical writing with quite different purposes and forms” than those typically associated with Rome (Mellor RH 133). About half of Plutarch’s works survive (Boardman 258) and show that he connected biography to the Roman practice of portraiture (Mellor RH 137). His Parallel Lives was inspired by “Nepos’ comparative lines” (Mellor RH 143). He took a distinct moral approach in his biographies and liked to include jokes. He “denounced Herodotus for impiety when he ascribed political motivation to the oracle at Delphi” (Mellor RH 199). His sources include Aratos of Sicyon’s autobiography (Mellor RH 166), Sulla’s commentarii (Mellor RH 170), and Augustus’ autobiography (Mellor RH 178). He was made procurator of Greece near the end of his life (Boardman 257), and he died in the 120s CE.

Suetonius, secretary of Emperor Hadrian (117-136 AD), Lives of the 12 Caesars, Lives of Divine Julius Caesar and Augustus are Republican

*Sallust, War with Cataline, Histories, War with Jugurtha – A Roman senator and supporter of Caesar, governor of Africa in 48 BC, forced to retire from politics. Viewed the collapse of the Republic from moral perspective (corruption, decadence).

*M. Tullius Cicero, Roman senator born in 106 BC, cos. 63 BC, new man from Arpinum; 25 speeches, Letters to Atticus, Letters to his Friends, philosophical tracts

Ti. Pomponius Atticus, J. Andreau, Banking in the Roman World; Charles Barlow, Banking in Rom. Rep.

Works cited:

Boardman, Griffin, and Murray. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Roman World.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Mellor, Ronald. The Historians of Ancient Rome. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Mellor, Ronald. The Roman Historians. New York: Routledge, 1999.