Jump to content

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
An image of Dionysius of Halicarnassus from the Codices Ambrosiani.
Bornc. 60 BC
Diedc. 7 BC (aged around 53)
CitizenshipRoman
Occupations
  • Historian
  • Rhetoric
  • Writer

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ancient Greek: Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, Dionúsios Alexándrou Halikarnasseús, ''Dionysios (son of Alexandros) of Halikarnassos''; c. 60 BC – after 7 BC) was an ancient Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric.[1] He flourished when Augustus was ruler of the Roman Empire.[2] His writing style was "atticistic" meaning that it imitated Attic Greek.[1] Dionysius wrote a history of Rome titled the Roman Antiquities.[1]

Dionysius was a native of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor.[1] He moved to Rome in 30/29 BCE after the end of the Roman civil wars and studied Latin.[1][3] During this time, Dionysius taught rhetoric.[4] The date of his death is unknown.[4] In the 19th century, it was commonly thought that he was the ancestor of Aelius Dionysius of Halicarnassus.[5]

Dionysius wrote an important work titled Roman Antiquities (Greek: Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία, Rhōmaikē Archaiologia).[1][3] It narrates the history of Rome from the mythical period to the start of the First Punic War.[1][3] The work has twenty books but only the first nine have survived while the other books exist only as fragments.[1][3] The thesis of Dionysius' work "was that Rome was a Greek city, Latin a Greek dialect, and Romans really Greeks."[1]

References

[change | change source]

Citations

[change | change source]
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Hidber 2013, pp. 228–229.
  2. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities, Book I, Chapter 6.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Seyffert, Nettleship & Sandys 1894, "Dionysius. (3) Dionysius of Halicarnassus", pp. 190–191.
  4. 4.0 4.1  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dionysius Halicarnassensis". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–286..
  5. Schmitz 1870, p. 1037.