Series | Lexis Supplements
Edited book | Cassius Dio and the Principate
Chapter | Between Civilitas and Tyranny: Cassius Dio’s Biographical Narrative of the Flavian Dynasty
Between Civilitas and Tyranny: Cassius Dio’s Biographical Narrative of the Flavian Dynasty
Abstract
In Cassius Dio’s account of imperial Rome, the Flavian Dynasty represents all the strengths and weaknesses of monarchical rule. The strength is represented with Vespasian, his display of modesty and understanding of the need to cooperate and share power with the senatorial elite. The weakness is described through the nepotism, betrayal, and uncontrolled ambition for glory and prestige that helped Domitian to power and forced the return of tyrannical rule upon the Romans. In this chapter, I shall discuss the way in which the Flavian narrative serves as a microcosm in the Roman History to demonstrate the reason for which dynastic succession was incapable of providing the stability needed for monarchical rule to reach its full constitutional and political potential.
Submitted: Sept. 8, 2020 | Accepted: Nov. 10, 2020 | Published Dec. 21, 2020 | Language: en
Keywords Cassius Dio • Titus • Principate • Dynastic succession • Domitian • Vespasian • The Flavian dynasty
Copyright © 2020 Jesper Majbom Madsen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-472-1/004
