Cassius Dio – Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician

Конференция «Дион Кассий — греческий интеллектуал и римский политик» пройдет в Оденсе 29-31 октября 2014 г. Возможные вопросы для обсуждения:

• влияние современной Диону ситуации на восприятие им эпохи Августа;
• взгляды Диона на историю;
• культ императора: почему Дион Кассий указал, что Августу не поклонялись в Риме и Италии, хотя археологические свидетельства говорят об обратном?
• гражданская война: сравнение гражданских войн периода Республики и времен самого Диона;
• критика некомпетентных императоров или императоров-тиранов.

Планируется опубликовать материалы конференции. Язык конференции и планируемого издания — английский. Заявки (предполагаемое название доклада, CV до одной страницы, тезисы ок. 200 слов) принимаются до 20 октября 2013 г.

Оригинальное сообщение:

This is an open call for papers for our forthcoming conference on Cassius Dio – Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician, a conference on  historiography, politics and the intellectual history of Rome, to be held at
the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 29-31 October 2014. In order to facilitate the conference proper we are applying for funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research. At this stage we invite titles and abstracts, which will then undergo a process of selection. Deadline for submission of title and abstract is 20 October 2013. If selected you will be asked to provide a CV of no more than one page. If funding is secured we hope to cover at least some of your expenses.

Cassius Dio – Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician, a conference on historiography, politics and the intellectual history of Rome, to be held at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 29-31 October 2014.

The bimillennium of Augustus’ death on 19 August 2014 presents an excellent opportunity to revisit and re-evaluate Cassius Dio, a key source for the history of Augustus and his successors. Next year also presents us with the opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Fergus Millar’s monograph A study of Cassius Dio, a book that remains at the centre of Augustan scholarship and Roman historiography. Regardless of what we think of Dio as a historian, there is no denying that he occupies a central position in Roman historiography. He is the fullest surviving source for the reign of Augustus and fundamental to the study of the Principate until 229 CE, when he retired from Roman politics.

Traditionally Dio is not viewed as one of Rome’s finest historians. The modern tendency is to look at historical events mainly in their contemporary context. That in turn naturally leads to a focus almost exclusively upon
periods for which we have such evidence. This approach has narrowed the scope of the subject of historiography as well as history in general. Critical of this approach, we wish to determine how Cassius Dio can be used
as evidence, not whether he can be used. A late source such as Dio would have worked from contemporary evidence when writing on Augustus, at least implicitly. Another issue is the politics of Dio. In the words of Peter Michael Swan (2004, The Augustan Succession, 17) “He shared neither Livy’s nostalgia for the lost Republic nor Tacitus’ aversion to Augustus’ regime as dominatio”. Nowadays there seems to be a tendency to approach imperialsources as a means of revealing emperors and their deceptive ways, certainly so with Augustus. This is what might be called the right-or-wrong approach to history. Using this approach, Dio is not always helpful. This conference aims to understand Dio, rather than to accept or refute him. Of course we need to explain some of the deficiencies of Dio, but this is only possible if we accept that Dio was a figure in his own right, and this includes his activity as a historian. The conference thus proposes to focus on the encouraging characteristics of Dio's work as a piece of historical evidence, without forgetting some of his rather obvious shortcomings. It is our belief that this is best done if we focus on comparing Dio’s contemporary world with the past with which he engages as a historian.

It is our hope to bring together a group of distinguished international and Danish scholars for a three-day conference to be held in Odense, Denmark. The list of confirmed speakers includes John Rich, Nottingham. The conference wishes to address the following and similar questions related to Cassius Dio:

• Dio’s pro-Augustan sentiments, including democracy versus monarchy: we cannot propose to understand Augustan times, using Dio as our main evidence, without taking into account his contemporary world.
• Dio’s views on history.
• Emperor worship: according to Dio Augustus was not worshipped in Rome and Italy. This can however be refuted, using archaeological remains. The question that presents itself is why did he write what he wrote?
• Civil war: a comparison between the civil wars of the Late Republic and the civil wars during Dio’s own lifetime proposes to answer the question of how he perceived and approached civil strife.
• Critique of incompetent or tyrannical emperors: how can we explain the basic critique of the Severan dynasty?

It is our intention to publish the conference proceedings. The language of the volume as well as the conference is English. The conference is part of a new project on Cassius Dio by Jesper M. Madsen. In order to facilitate the conference proper we are applying for funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research. At this stage we therefore need three things: (1) a preliminary title, (2) a CV of no more than one page, and (3) a brief abstract of 200 words, by no later than 20 October 2013.

Contact:
Jesper M. Madsen, Associate professor phd.
Department of History/ University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Email: majbom@sdu.dk

Dr Carsten H. Lange
Accademia di Danimarca a Roma / Det Danske Institut i Rom
Email: hjort.lange@acdan.it

Источник: организаторы.