The Portrayal of Women in Cassius Dio's 'Roman History'

Christopher Mallan (2010). The Portrayal of Women in Cassius Dio's 'Roman History' MPhil Thesis, School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics, The University of Queensland.

       
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s40797258_MPhil_abstract.pdf s40797258_MPhil_abstract.pdf application/pdf 48.68KB 7
s40797258_MPhil_finalthesis.pdf s40797258_MPhil_finalthesis.pdf application/pdf 1.67MB 42
Author Christopher Mallan
Thesis Title The Portrayal of Women in Cassius Dio's 'Roman History'
School, Centre or Institute School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2010-09
Thesis type MPhil Thesis
Total pages 184
Total black and white pages 184
Subjects 21 History and Archaeology
Abstract/Summary Scholars have interpreted the opening decades of the third century as a period when the imperial women of the Severan dynasty held substantial political power. These decades coincided with the end of the supposed renaissance of Greek letters, known then as now as the Second Sophistic. It was during this political and cultural climate that the senatorial historian Cassius Dio wrote his ambitious and influential Roman History. The portrayals of politically involved Roman women were important literary components of Dio’s historical project. This thesis is an attempt to analyse these portrayals from historiographical and narratological standpoints. As is demonstrated throughout this enquiry, the individual Roman women portrayed in Dio’s History fulfil several moralizing and narrative functions. It is argued that from these representations of women it is possible to gauge Dio’s beliefs concerning the role of women in relation to political power and how Dio constructed models of appropriate and inappropriate feminine behaviour.
Keyword cassius dio
roman women
historiography
literary portrayals

 
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