Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus

Author(s): M. James Moscovich

Source: Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Bd. 53, H. 3 (2004), pp. 356-368
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4436734
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 CASSIUS DIO'S PALACE SOURCES FOR THE REIGN
OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS

Ancient Greek and Roman historians who attempted to record the events of
their own times did not generally resort to a large number of written sources.
There were, of course, some public documents - official pronouncements, lists
of magistrates and priests, and the like, which ancient writers could consult, if
they chose to do so, but on the whole they relied upon their own observations,
supplemented by information obtained from a wide variety of informants with
an equally wide range of historical credibility. So it was with Cassius Dio's
account of the reign of his own emperor, Septimius Severus.1 Though Dio, in
his ambitious goal to narrate the whole of Roman history, from the very
founding of the City, boasts of having read "pretty nearly everything about
them (sc. the Romans) that has been written by anybody,"2 his account of the
events of Septimius' reign is essentially the product of personal observation,
enhanced by his experience of having served in several quite high-ranking
posts, including membership in the Senate, the consulship, and inclusion within
the consilium of Septimius, serving as judicial advisor to the emperor.3
Dio devoted the better part of three books to the history of Severus' reign.
Though there is no consensus as to when Books 74-76 were actually published
in their present form, it seems likely, as Murison convincingly argues, that with
Dio's "curiously mixed stance on Severus", a date some time after the emperor,
as well as his successors (Caracalla and Elagablus), had died seems likely,
probably sometime between 223 and 229.4 Even though Dio, at this time, would

I An insightful assessment of Dio's portrayal of the history of his own times is provided by
M.G. Schmidt, "Politische und personliche Motivation in Dios Zeitgeschichte", in Ge-
schichtsschreibung und politischer Wandel im 3. Jh. n. Chr. (ed. M. Zimmermann),
(Historia-Einzelschriften 127, Stuttgart 1999) 93-117.

2 Fr. 1.2: 'Avgyvowv giv ciavtoa d; eineiv rda nepi ai),r&v rtca yeypajipva, ... Though
Dio's claim appears exaggerated, there is no reason to doubt that he read very widely
during the ten years of research which he claims preceded the twelve years which he
devoted to composition (72.23.5).
3 On the career of Dio see F. Millar, A Study of Cassius Dio (Oxford 1964) 5-27; C.L.
Murison, Rebellion and Reconstruction, Galba to Domitian: An Historical Commentary
of Cassius Dio's Roman History, Books 64-67 (Atlanta 1999) 5-8.
4 See Murison, Rebellion and Reconstruction (n. 3) 8-12 for a concise summary of the
chronological problems pertaining to the composition and publication of Dio's History. For
an enlightening analysis of how the Severan books of Dio's history may have been revised
see M.M. Eisman, "Dio and Josephus: Parallel Analyses", Latomus 36 (1977) 657-673.

Historia, Band LIII/3 (2004)

i Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Sitz Stuttgart

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 357

have undoubtedly felt more at liberty to express candid opinions concerning the
Severans, his account of their dynasty remains, nonetheless, firmly based on
information gained from those who, like himself, had actually lived through and
experienced the events of the reigns.
As in the rest of his History, Dio does not explicitly identify any of his
contemporary sources, with the possible exception of Severus himself, whose
autobiography he seems to have consulted, but not followed, concerning the
death of Albinus.5 In fact, only rarely in the Severan books does Dio give even
the slightest indication of having consulted outside sources. For example, in
describing the emperor's trip in A.D. 200 to Egypt he states simply that "I feel
fully justified in mentioning what I have learned about the Nile by accurate
investigation in many quarters."6 In other instances Dio characterizes his sourc-
es only vaguely, with such phrases as "reliable witnesses."7
Modern commentators have, in general, avoided the problems of attempting
to identify Dio's contemporary sources and what information he may have
derived from them. Fergus Millar is quite typical, stating that "any material from
such sources was only isolated facts, for the personal and original structure of
the whole narrative is beyond doubt." While acknowledging the possibility that,
in addition to the autobiography of Severus, as well as the emperor's formal
reports to the Senate, Dio may have been familiar with the res gestae of Severus
written by the sophist Aelius Antipater, as well as the biographies of Marius
Maximus, Millar characterizes Dio's contemporary sources simply as deriving
from "friends and acquaintances," as well as "current anecdotes," many of
which were simply the product of popular gossip.8 Millar's reluctance to at-

5 75.7.3: Xkyw yatp ol5UX 6aca o xoiufpoq E'ypa?ev, 6X 'O 6a dXi06iq O yever.o. Dio's clear
rejection of the emperor's version may be evidence that this section of the account was
later modified. See Eisman (n. 4) 669-670. Little is known about Severus' autobiography.
In addition to the allusion of Dio, the work is cited or referred to by Herodian 2.9.4,
Victor de Caes. 20.22 (whence HA Sev. 18.6), HA Sev. 3.2, Nig. 4.7, Alb. 7.1, 10.1. It is
not known whether it was written in Latin or Greek. Its content may not have dealt with
events beyond Severus' ascendancy to the throne. Various details in Dio's account of this
period may derive from the autobiography, such as, for example, the dreams and portents
which presaged Severus' rise (74.3). Dio is known to have written a pamphlet on this
subject, which he presented to Severus, but as Millar, Study (n. 3) 120 n. 1, observes,
whether the source of his information was Severus himself cannot be determined for
certain. For hypotheses about the nature and content of Severus' autobiography, see Z.
Rubin, Civil-War Propaganda and Historiography (Collection Latomus, vol. 173, Brus-
sels 1980) passim and esp. 133-195; A.R. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emper-
or (originally published in 1971 [London], and revised in 1988 [Londonj), p. 203 (1988).
6 75.13.3 ... nEpi Toi NeiXou noXXaX60tv dKptpIaoa; gXc*,
7 79.7.4: nap' dvSpcov 4tonirrcov ru0svEoV;,
8 Millar, Study (n. 3) 122. On Antipater cf. below. On Marius Maximus, and his possible
relationship to Dio, see Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5), 205 (1988); also Birley, Marius
Maximus: the Consular Biographer, ANRW II.34,3 (1997) 2678-2757, esp. 2694-2700.

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358 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

tribute details contained in Dio's Severan account to specific sources may be

lauded as sensible scholarly caution. It seems, nevertheless, possible to indulge
in some constructive hypotheses about the identity of some of Dio's informants.
Though Dio served in the imperial consilium and was among those desig-
nated as amici of the emperor, he gives no indication that his personal relation-
ship with Severus extended beyond matters official and formal. He does take
pride that Severus warmly acknowledged his pamphlet on the dreams and
portents which heralded his rise to imperial power, but beyond this there is
nothing to suggest that Dio was in any way a confidant of the emperor.9 As
Millar observes, "Dio's reports of scenes in the Senate under Severus show him
solely as a passive participant who does not intervene or speak."10 But even
being on the periphery of power, so to speak, likely gave Dio access to a number
of individuals who were closer to the emperor and his family.
The most influential of these was the sophist, Aelius Antipater, who, as
mentioned above, composed a res gestae of Severus. Antipater, from Phyrgian
Hierapolis, rose to prominence as Severus' imperial secretary (ab epistulis
Graecis).11 The contemporary biographer, Philostratus, claims that no one
composed letters better than Antipater, though, with a certain tone of disdain, he
adds that "his utterances were always in keeping with the Imperial role." So
trusted a member of the imperial household was Antipater that he was appointed
as tutor to Severus' sons, Caracalla and Geta, or as Philostratus wryly states, we
used to call him "Tutor of the Gods," which suggests quite a close relationship,
with plenty of opportunity to know what was going on in the imperial house-
hold. Though nothing in Dio's History can be construed to imply that he derived
information directly from Antipater himself, there were others, not quite so
close and powerful perhaps, who did have the ear of the imperial secretary.
Prominent among these was his biographer, the aforementioned Philostratus.
Philostratus, a sophist best known for his biographies of other sophists, was
well placed to gain privileged information about Severus and his family. Philos-
tratus names Antipater among his teachers, and it may have been the influential
secretary who formally introduced Philostratus to Severus' wife, Julia Dom-
na.12 In any case, Philostratus states that he belonged to a "circle" of philoso-

9 72.23.2. On Dio's pamphlet, and on the manipulation of astrology in Severus' propagan-

da, see Rubin, Civil-War Propaganda (n. 5) 42ff.
10 Millar, Study (n.3) 18.
11 Virtually all that is known about Antipater is derived from Philostratus' brief biography
(VS 607), supplemented by a few scraps from Herodian and Galen. Testimonia are
assembled by Jacoby FGrHist 21 1, Schmid RE 1 (1894) 2517 (Antipatros 29), and PIR2 A
137. See also Rubin, Civil-War Propaganda (n. 5) 25-26.
12 VS 607. On Philostratus' relationship with Julia cf. G.W. Bowersock, Greek Sophists in
the Roman Empire (Oxford 1969) 4-5; G. Anderson, Philostratus: Biography and Belles
Lettres in the Third Century A.D. (London 1986) passim, and esp. pp. 4-5; Birley,
Septimius Severus (n. 5) 207 (1988).

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 359

phers who attended upon Julia, and though there have been wide ranging
assertions as to the extent and membership of this sophist entourage, there is no
doubt whatsoever of Philostratus' own close association with the group.13
There is no indication that Dio was also a member of Julia's iKI5icXoq, though
such has been suggested.'4 Nonetheless, as Millar states, "while Julia Domna
was alive and her circle in existence, Dio was influenced by their interests and
enthusiasms,"15 and, moreover, it is Dio who informs us that the empress
sought refuge in the company of these sophists when she became oppressed by
the abuses of Severus' ambitious praetorian captain, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.16
Plautianus, like Severus himself, was a native of North Africa, and was
appointed as praetorian prefect in A.D. 197. His career clearly made a large
impression upon Dio, who, much earlier in his History, in his description of the
rise and fall of Sejanus, Tiberius' infamous praetorian prefect, is prompted, by
way of comparison, to mention Plautianus.17 Dio witnessed firsthand quite a
few of the events involving Plautianus, notably the wedding of his daughter,
Plautilla, to Caracalla in 202. Dio was among the guests at the lavish and, in his
view, somewhat uncouth banquet, at which was served raw and even "live"
meat.18 As noted above, he also describes how Plautianus' outrageous treat-
ment of Julia, even to the extent of his denouncing her to Severus himself, drove
the empress "to seek refuge in the study of philosophy."'9 But however bold
Plautianus became as his familiarity with Severus increased, much of the
intrigue involving him clearly took place behind closed doors, and Dio must
have learned about some of these activities from those privy to palace politics.
We have no direct evidence relating to the relationship between Plautianus
and Julia's sophist courtiers, but they must certainly have shared their patron-

13 Vit. Apoll. 1.3: jJzrEXovTit ? got toi nlCpi aunlv ivkkou - rai yap IOV5 P1OptPKOU;
ccv,ra; kO6yot; EinmVt icai icamdceo i'rX. On the ongoing debate over the membership
of Julia's circle, cf. Bowersock (n. 12) 101-109; A. Billaut, L'univers de Philostrate
(Brussels 2000) 21; B. Bleckmann, "Die severische Familie und die Soldatenkaiser", in
H. Temporini-Graefin Vitzhum, Die Kaiserinnen Roms. Von Livia bis Theodora, Munich
(2002) 265ff.
14 Strongly implied by J.P.V.D. Balsdon, Roman Women (London 1962) 152.
15 Millar, Study (n. 3) 20. Overall, Dio's portrayal of Domna is somewhat mixed. He
respected her intellect and capabilities, noting (77.18.2) that Caracalla had appointed her
to receive petitions and to have charge of his correspondence in both languages, and even
included her name in his letters to the Senate. At the same time Dio was typically suspicous
of such an ambitious and capable woman, "who exhibited the craftiness of the Syrians, to
which race she belonged (77.10.2)." Dio's apparent ambivalence towards Julia may be, in
part, the result of later revisions of his account (Eisman fn. 41 671). See further E.
Kettenhofen, Die syrischen Augustae in der historischen Uberlieferung (Bonn 1979) 9-13.
16 75.15.6-7. On Plautianus' rise and fall cf. PIR2, F 554.
17 58.14.1.
18 76.1.2.
19 75.15.6-7.

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 360 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

ess' disdain for him.20 Dio's graphic descript

of Plautianus at the imperial palace, in the p
seems an eye-witness account and yet it is cle
His portrayal of Caracalla's role in the murder of Plautianus, "striking the
prefect with his fist, and wanting to kill him with his own hands", can only have
been reported to Dio by an insider. The complicity of Euodus (76.3), the
freedman who had supervised the early education of Caracalla, in setting up
Plautianus for his fall, fosters the possibility that Antipater, Caracalla's tutor,
may also have had knowledge of the plot. In any case, Philostratus, virtually at
the side of Julia during this domestic crisis, must have been as satisfied as the
empress herself, when, according to Dio, "someone plucked out a few hairs
from the deceased Plautianus' beard, carried them to Julia and Plautilla, ... and
exclaimed, 'Behold your Plautianus."'21
Dio's vivid portrayal of Plautianus' fateful end has generally been charac-
terized as suspect, but, even so, as Millar concedes, more reliable than our only
other source for the incident, Herodian.22 Dio's information must clearly derive
from those closest to Julia, perhaps Philostratus himself. No source, it is true,
establishes for certain that Philostratus actually witnessed any of the drama
firsthand, but the possibility that he did may be suggested by the fact that Dio,
in his description of Plautianus' death, recalls (76.4.2) an encounter between
the praetorian prefect and the emperor some five years earlier (A.D. 200) at
Tyana, in Cappadocia. Dio reports (75.15.4) that Plautianus had fallen ill at
Tyana and that when Severus went to visit him there Plautianus' guards made
the emperor enter alone, without his escort. The emperor seems not to have
forgotten this affront, since Dio notes (76.4.2) that when Plautianus appeared at
the palace for the last time, not knowing what fate awaited him, Severus would
permit no one else to enter with him, "just as he himself had once done at
Tyana." The dramatic importance of Tyana in Dio's account strongly points
towards Philostratus and the empress, Julia, who encouraged her philosopher
friend to write a Life of Apollonius, the wonder-worker of Tyana, a request
which he ultimately completed and published sometime after her death in
217.23 It seems very likely that Dio was familiar with this work,24 and even

20 Pace Bowersock's assertion (n. 12) 106 that "no ambitious sophist ... would have
preferred Julia to Plautianus."
21 76.4.4.
22 Millar, Study (n. 3) 145-146. On Herodian's narrative (3.11.4-12.12), which reflects the
official Severan version that Plautianus had engineered a plot against the emperor and
Caracalla, cf. E. Hohl, "Herodian und der Sturz Plautians", SDAW 2 (1956) 33-46.
23 For details concerning Apollonius, and Philostratus' biography, cf. E.L. Bowie, "Apollo-
nius of Tyana: Tradition and Reality", ANRW 11 16,2 (1978), 1652-1699. On the date of
Philostratus' Life of Apollonius cf. p. 1670 and n. 71.
24 Strongly implied by Millar, Study (n. 3) 20; thought to be likely by Bowersock, Philostra-

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 361

though he viewed its subject quite negatively,25 the influence of its author
seems unmistakable in his account of the Severans' domestic crises. Particular-
ly noteworthy is his eye-witness account of the eastern trip undertaken by
Caracalla and Julia in 214/215. Dio describes (77.18.2-4) the growing hostility
between the emperor and his mother, noting that though they both "held public
receptions for all the most prominent men, Julia devoted herself more and more
to the study of philosophy with these men". Dio does not name any of Julia's
intellectual friends, but his report of Caracalla's dedication of a shrine honoring
Apollonius of Cappadocia, "a thorough juggler and magician,"26 strongly in-
creases the likelihood that Philostratus was among them.27 Dio's pointed criti-
cism of Caracalla's monument to Apollonius at Tyana, as well as of Severus'
obsequious deference to Plautianus in the same city a decade earlier, strongly
suggests that both parts of his narrative were ultimately modified,28 perhaps
influenced by the publication of Philostratus' biography.
Julia's sophist friends may also have been Dio's source for some of the
details pertaining to Severus' expedition to Britain, which occupied the last
three years of the emperor's life (208-211).29 There is no evidence that Dio
accompanied Severus to the island.30 His account has been characterized as

tus, Penguin ed. 1970, edited by Bowersock and C.P. Jones, p. 19. That Philostratus, in
turn, was familiar with Dio's writings seems fairly certain. As Millar has documented
(19-20), a numberof details from Dio's description of Domitian's assassination (67.18.1-
2) find close parallels in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius (8.25-26). It may be noted also
that Dio's story about Favorinus and Hadrian (69.3.6) was incorporated into Philostratus'
biography of the sophist (VS 490).
25 Cf. below and n. 26.

26 77.18.4: ... Kai Y6?4 Kai Rt6yo; aKPtlcpl; ygv-eto. Cf. 52.36.3, and Millar, Study (n
20, n. 7, who notes that y6TI; and gtdyo; were terms of abuse in Dio's vocabulary. T
negative portrayal of Apollonius as y6TIq seems to have been well established by t
middle of the 2nd century, possibly deriving from the Athenian philosopher, Moiragenes.
Cf. Bowie (n. 23) 1673-1679.
27 This likelihood is strengthened by the fact that Philostratus concludes (VA 8.31) his epic
biography with the dramatic declaration that "Apollonius' shrine at Tyana is singled out
and honoured with royal officers; for neither have the Emperors denied to him the
honours of which they themselves were held worthy." Cf. Maria Dzielska, Apollonius of
Tyana in Legend and History (tr. P. Pienkowski, Rome 1986) 59; Bowie (n. 23) 1687-
1688.
28 Cf. Eisman (n. 4) 670-671.
29 76.11.1-15.4.
30 Millar, Study (n. 3) 149, notes that "Dio, as an amicus of Severus, might have gone on the
expedition, but in the absence of first-person reports it is safe to assume that he did not."
It should be noted, however, that in his account of Caesar's invasion of 55 B.C. Dio
appears to imply that he had, at some time, visited the island, as he criticizes severely
(39.50.3) those accounts "by many who knew nothing about the island, because they had
not seen it with their own eyes nor heard about it from the natives with their own ears ...."

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362 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

"largely anecdotal",3' "pitifully truncate

ities and travelers' tales, ... and practically worthless."33 However inferior
Dio's account may be judged, it is, nonetheless, our best narrative of Severus'
activities in Britain, far superior, indeed, to that of his contemporary, Herodian,
or the later biography of Severus contained in the Historia Augusta.34 It
contains unique details, including a description of the Maeatae, a tribe not
mentioned in any other extant author.35 His description of the social order of
these people is strongly reminiscent of Caesar's ethnographic account of the
inhabitants of Kent (BG 5.14), and, like Caesar (BG 5.13), Dio includes dimen-
sions of the island, though different from those given by Caesar. Caesar's
famous account of his forays into Britain must have been consulted by most
subsequent writers on the region, and though Dio's description appears to
suggest his familiarity with the reports of his more illustrious predecessor, it is
clear that he did not employ Caesar's information for any of the technical
details of British geography.36 Much of it was simply outdated.37
Certain details of Severus' campaign may have been simply common knowl-
edge, especially for a man of Dio's rank and experience. For example, in describ-
ing Augustus' increase of military pay in A.D. 5, Dio notes that "of Augustus' 23
or, as others say, 25 legions, currently (viiv) only nineteen continue to exist, ...
including the second (Augusta) and twentieth (Valeria and Victrix) stationed in
Upper Britain, and one of the sixth legions (Victrix) in Lower Britain."38 He
makes no specific mention of these legions in his account of Severus' activities,
but archaeology has confirmed their presence during Severus' operations.39

In view of evidence to the contrary, however, his criticism seems only a bombastic
attempt to distance himself from the mass of writers who based their accounts on Britain
merely on hearsay and traveler's tales.
31 Millar, Study (n. 3) 121; 149; cf. 177.
32 Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5) 255 (1971).
33 K.A. Steer, Roman and Native in North Britain, ed. I.A. Richmond (Edinburgh 1958), 93.
34 On the inferiority of Herodian's account for the British campaign of Severus (3.14.9-10;
15.1) see Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5) 255 (1971); 178-179; 204-205 (1988); the
Augustan History (Sev. 18.2) is characterized by Birley 182 (1988) as "almost useless as
a source for these campaigns."
35 76.12.1-5.
36 Even though Dio may have consulted Caesar's writings, it appears that for h
the campaign of 55 B.C. he followed an anti-Caesarian source, perhaps Asinius
Tanusius Geminus, as I. McDougall, "Dio and his Sources for Caesar's Campa
Gaul", Latomus 50 (1991) 616-638, has demonstrated. J. Humphrey, "A Note
in Cassius Dio", AHB 4 (1990) 17-22, has argued persuasively (p. 19) that the d
which Dio gives for Britain derive from a Latin source, though one no longer
37 For example, Dio's calculation (76.12.5) that of the total land area of Britain th
(now) held "a little less than half' suggests more contemporary sources.
38 55.23.3.
39 Cf. Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5) 247; 259; 270 (1971); 182 (1988).

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 363

The most authoritative source for details about the campaign would have
been, of course, the emperor himself. He did not survive to return from Britain,
and although he, like Caesar, may have sent periodic reports back to Rome from
the island, there is no indication that he did so. Nor is it likely that Severus'
autobiography dealt with any events as late as the British campaign.40
However, the entourage which accompanied Severus to Britain was not
only large, it also included all the immediate members of the imperial family,
namely the emperor's two sons, Caracalla and Geta, as well as their mother, the
empress, Julia. Geta did not long survive the return from Britain, and though
Dio certainly knew Caracalla, whom he accompanied to Bithynia during the
winter of A.D. 214/215, his view of the man, throughout the History, is
completely negative. His assertion that Caracalla, while in Britain, plotted the
murder of not only his brother, but of Severus as well (76.14.1) may well have
been inserted into the narrative some time after 222,41 but, in any case, informa-
tion about Britain is unlikely to have been obtained by Dio from either of the
imperial princes. But what about their mother, Julia?
Dio includes in his account of the British campaign a witty anecdote
relating to the empress' encounter with the wife of a Caledonian chieftain. He
asserts that when Julia playfully upbraided British women for their loose sexual
mores, she received the retort that "we (Britons) fulfill the demands of nature in
a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the
best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest."42 As
Birley observes, "it could be that this was as close as Dio dared to get to hinting
at the sexual license of the Empress".43 But where did Dio get the story?
Possibly from the street. But even if the anecdote became popular gossip, there
is no reason not to believe that Julia did encounter members of defeated native
royalty in Britain, and though Dio is unlikely to have heard any details,
lascivious or not, from the empress herself, public report of the incident must
have derived from some of the courtiers who were either with her at the time or
had heard about the encounter after her return to Rome.
Other than her sons and husband, no one who accompanied Julia to Britain
is named by any of our sources.44 Miinscher has suggested that Philostratus,
who claims "to have observed the ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides in the

40 On the nature of the autobiography, cf. n. 5.

41 Eisman (n. 4) 671.
42 76.16.5.
43 Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5) 267 n. 3 (1971). Cf. p. 168 (1988).
44 Birley, Septimius Severus (n. 5) 175 (1988) deduces on the basis of Dio 76.14.1-2 that
Euodus, the aforementioned tutor of Caracalla, as well as Castor, a chamberlain, accom-
panied the imperial family to Britain. In any case, both perished, in Britain it appears, at
the hands of Caracalla.

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364 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

country of the Celts," may have accompa

However, Philostratus' claim, as Anderson points out, may just as easily refer
to a journey to Gaul, which he visited with both Severus and Caracalla.46 But
whether Philostratus actually accompanied Julia to Britain or not, there is
evidence, albeit somewhat oblique, to suggest that Philostratus may have been
Dio's source for some of the details pertaining to the campaign, including the
story of Julia's encounter with the Caledonian woman.
Xiphilinus, in his summary of Dio's description of the events leading up to
Julia's death in Antioch in A.D. 217, some five years after her return from
Britain, states that she "had hoped to become sole ruler and make herself the
equal of Semiramis and Nitocris, inasmuch as she came in a sense from the
same parts as they".47 It has generally been maintained that Dio's assertion is
little more than a literary topos, one which compared politically ambitious
women like Julia to well known, even if somewhat disparaged, queens from the
past who asserted themselves in a manner often less than decorous.48
Of the two queens said to be admired by Julia, Semiramis is, by far, the
more famous. She, like Romulus at Rome, was viewed as the offspring of gods,
the builder of Babylon, in particular its famous walls, and apotheosized at her
death. The historical figure behind this legend is thought to be Sammuramat,
wife of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad V. Upon her husband's death she may
have become regent (810-805 B.C.) in the minority of her son Adad-Nirari
III.49 Tzetzes cites Dio on two occasions, in addition to Herodotus, Ctesias,
Diodorus, and Philostratus, as sources whom he consulted concerning the
length of the walls of Babylon.50 Though Tzetzes' citations do not indicate
whether Dio actually mentioned Semiramis by name, Boissevain's edition of
the text reflects the belief that he probably did.51
The identity of Nitocris is more problematic. Herodotus is aware of two
queens of this name. The first he links closely with Semiramis as one of the

45 K. Munscher, "Die Philostrate", Philologus, suppl. 10 (1905/07) 469-558, commenting

on Vit. Apoll. V.2.
46 Anderson, Philostratus (n. 12) 18 n. 27.
47 78.23.
48 From the Historia Augusta, for example, Zenobia, another energetic eastern q
(The Thirty Tyrants 30) to have acted as a regent for her two sons, "holding g
longer than was fitting for a woman." Zenobia's political savvy is also compa
Thirty Tyrants 27) to that of Dido, Semiramis and Cleopatra. On the topos,
hofen (n. 15) 12; A. Alfoldi, Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des 3. Jahr
nach Christus (Darnstadt 1967) 22.
49 Cf. W. Schramm, "War Semiramis assyrische Regentin?", Historia 21 (1972) 513-521.
The numerous references in Greek and Latin literature to Semiramis are collected by W.
Eilers, Semiramis. Entstehung und Nachhall einer altorientalischen Sage, SboAW, Phil.-
hist.Kl. 274,2 (Wien 1971).
50 Chiliad. 9.572ff.; Exeg. in Hom. 11. p. 141, 15ff.
51 68.27. la.

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 365

many rulers "who helped to fortify the city of Babylon and adorn its temples."5
The second Nitocris, an Egyptian, is explicitly distinguished from the Babylo-
nian queen by Herodotus who relates the gruesome tale of how she constructed
an immense underground chamber in which she drowned the hundreds of
Egyptians who had murdered her brother, the king, and had forced her to
succeed.53 The ninth century monk known as Syncellus, deriving his informa-
tion from the Christian chronographers, Africanus and Eusebius, who in tum
probably reflect the Egyptian historian, Manetho, places Nitocris at the end of
the sixth dynasty, and attributes to her the construction of the third pyramid.54
While Herodotus' more favorable portrayal of the Babylonian Nitocris, as
well as her clear association with Semiramis, may lead one, initially at least, to
assume that Dio believed that it was this woman whom Julia emulated, this may
not be the case, since in his colorful description of Boudicca's revolt of A.D. 61
Dio attributes to the British warrior queen a speech in which she exhorts her
troops by declaring that "I rule over no burden-bearing Egyptians as did
Nitocris, nor over trafficking Assyrians as did Semiramis, ... but rather over
Britons thoroughly versed in the art of war and who hold all things in common,
even children and wives . .."ss Boudicca's linking of Nitocris and Semiramis
does not, admittedly, confirm that it was the Egyptian queen whom Julia
admired; but the coincidence of names, as well as Boudicca's praise (in italics
above) of the very marital custom which Julia herself had ridiculed in the
above-mentioned encounter with the wife of the Caledonian chieftain strength-
ens the probability that it was the Egyptian queen with whom Julia was com-
pared.
An unlikely source may suggest the origin of Dio's queenly comparisons.
The Emperor Julian (the apostate), who lived more than a century and a half after
Julia, wrote a Panegyric in honor of the Empress Eusebia (the first wife of
Constantius). In praising her patronage of his interest in literature and philoso-
phy, Julian, with somewhat false modesty, suggests that what he is about to relate
would be put down by "the accomplished sophists (napaz t6cv gaKapiov aoatdyrv)
as trivial and worthless", because "only those whose deeds are to be admired and
are worthy of serious treatment" should be related, such as "the famous woman
of Assyria (i.e. Semiramis), ... and Nitocris, ... and a crowd of women beyond
number who played men's parts in no very seemly fashion."56 Though Julian's

52 1.185.
53 2.100.
54 Manetho Frr. 20; 21 a LCL = FGrHist 609 Frr. 2; 3a/b. On Nitocris cf. Pieper, RE v
(1936) 774. Diodorus, 1.64.14 gives the name of the builder of the pyramid as Rho
whom Herodotus (2.134) identifies as a Thracian courtesan who amassed a great for
"but certainly not sufficient for building a pyramid."
55 62.6.2 (italics mine).
56 Orat. 3.126B-127C.

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366 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

list obviously confirms the popularity of the misogynistic topos, it is, once again,
not clear whether the Nitocris in his catalogue was the Egyptian or the Babyloni-
an queen.57 Whatever the case, his gentle upbraiding of the "accomplished
sophists" who might denigrate his comparison of Eusebia's patronship of philos-
ophy and literature with the deeds of Semiramis and Nitocris, among others,
seems to imply a recollection of Julia and her intellectual friends.
Indeed, it does appear that Semiramis, at least, was of some interest to
Philostratus, who, as noted above, includes a description of the wall-building
activities of the Babylonian queen in his Life of Apollonius .s8 Furthermore, he
claims that his principal source for this biography "was a man called Damis,
who once lived in the ancient city of Nineveh, ... and that some relative of
Damis brought hitherto unknown tablets of memoirs to the attention of the
empress Julia."59 While there is no mention of Nitocris in the extant writings of
Philostratus, it is attractive to suggest that Dio's association of Julia with
Semiramis, at least, reflects a genuine interest of the empress. Even if Dio never
saw the text of Philostratus' biography of Apollonius, which seems unlikely,60
he could have learned of Julia's interest in Semiramis from contact with the
sophist or one of his friends.61 The statement concerning Julia's admiration of
Semiramis and Nitocris appears in Dio's narrative virtually as part of her
obituary,62 and must obviously have been written sometime near her death, or
shortly thereafter, at a time when Dio felt more at liberty to be candid about the
Severans. Julia's emulation of the eastern queens was very likely genuine, but
Dio, and others, may not have viewed her ambition at all positively. But even
before her death he found a way to disguise his disapproval, in Boudicca's
dramatic denigration of the empress' models, as well as her alleged sexual
mores. His choice of Boudicca as the mouthpiece of his disapproval may
suggest that public knowledge of Julia's admiration of the eastern queens
became current about the time of Severus' British expedition.
Other aspects of the British campaign, quite apart from Julia's activities,
may have prompted discussion among Philostratus and his colleagues. Dio, in

57 Julian, in another oration (2.25c), clearly alludes to the activities of the Babylonian
queen, though without actually mentioning her name.
58 VA 1.25, cited by Tzetzes (cf. above and n. 50).
59 VA 1.3. On the debate concerning the historicity of Damis, cf. Bowie (n. 23) 1663-1667.
60 Cf. pp. 360-361 and n. 24 above.
61 Philostratus was not the only sophist of the Severan era who expressed an interest in
Semiramis. A colleague, Claudius Aelianus, who was accorded a biographical sketch in
The Lives of the Sophists, mentions the Babylonian queen twice in his Varia Historia (7.1;
12.39). Philostratus compliments Aelianus' "purity of Attic diction", despite being a
native Roman and mentions (VS 2.31) an "indictment of Gynnis" (i.e. Elagabal) with
which, in Millar's view (Study [n. 3] 168-69), Dio was likely familiar.
62 Julia's death is recorded at 78.23.6-24.3.

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 Cassius Dio's Palace Sources for the Reign of Septimius Severus 367

his description of the emperor's advance into the most northerly reaches of the
island, records Severus' efforts "to observe most accurately the variation of the
sun's motion and the length of the days and nights in summer and winter
respectively."63 Severus' interest in the phenomenon of seasonal variations in
daylight hours, particularly noticeable in northern climes, was by no means
unique. He may have been prompted to undertake his observations in emulation
of Caesar, who, centuries earlier, had revealed considerable interest in testing
the claim by certain unnamed writers that in the vicinity of the Isle of Man "the
midwinter solstice lasts for thirty whole days!"64
In Dio's account of Severus' equinoctial observations, the "motion of the
sun" is described as Mrv roiX ikiou napXkka4tv. The phrase strikes one as
technical in nature, and, indeed, with the exception of its occurrence in Dio's
account of Severus, it is employed, among extant authors, only by philosopher-
scientists such as Proclus and Simplicius.65 The phrase also occurs in a number
of variations among the writings of Geminus, whose Introduction to Astronomy
(Eicay(wyijl ei; 'ar 4atvo'Reva) likely dates from the first century B.C.66 This
work, though somewhat elementary in nature, was cited by later commentators
on Aristotle's Meteorologica, including Alexander of Aphrodisias, a contem-
porary of Dio.67
Alexander, in commenting on Aristotle's theories concerning the ";origin of
the south wind", employs a variation of the phrase (i.e. nrapakXkaavra r6v
IjXtov) to describe the sun's motion.68 It is unlikely, to be sure, that Dio would
have consulted such an esoteric commentary, but he may well have been at least
aware of one of the sophist's earliest writings, a work concerning Aristotle's
view of fate, IHlp' Eitiapgv&;, which, like his own inaugural work about the
dreams and the portents which presaged Severus' ascendance to the throne, was
dedicated to Septimius (as well as his elder son, Caracalla), sometime between
A.D. 198 and 209.69 The core of the treatise contains little which might be

63 76.13.3.
64 BG 5.13. That Dio was aware of this passage may be suggested by the fact that in his
description of Caesar's crossing to Britain in 55 B.C. Dio actually mentions the expedi-
tion of Severus (39.50.4).
65 Proclus Hyp. 7.31; Simplicius in Cael. 7.83.1.
66 For example V.27 in a discussion of the differences in lengths of days and nights during
winter and summer; cf. also V.42; VI.3; 37-38; VII 12; VIII.21-23; et al. For a complete
listing of the occurences of napdUaat; in Geminus' writings see the index verborum in
Geminos: Introduction aux Ph/nomenes, ed. G. Aujac (Paris 1975).
67 in Mete. 152. 10. in vol. 3, pt. 2 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, ed. M. Hayduck
(Berlin 1899). On the life and writings of Alexander, cf. Gercke, RE 1 (1894) 1453-55
(Alexandros 94).
68 in Mete. 11 1.17 (cf. n. 64) on Arist. Met. 2.363.a8.
69 Alexander of Aphrodisias on Fate, ed. R.W. Sharples (London 1983). For the date of
dedication cf. R.B. Todd, Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic Physics (Leiden 1976) 1, n. 3.

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368 M. JAMES MOSCOVICH

construed as didactic advice specifically dir

It is noteworthy, however, that in explain
employs an astronomical analogy which co
to the scientific experiments undertaken by Severus: "We see that night and
day, too, which have a certain order in relation to each other, have one and the
same cause, as does similarly the changing of the seasons. Winter is not the
cause of summer, but both the former things (night and day) and the latter
things (winter and summer) are caused by the motion and rotation of the divine
body and the inclination along the ecliptic; the sun, moving along this, is the
cause of all alike of the things mentioned above."70 In this passage, Alexander,
admittedly, does not describe the movement of the sun (italics) employing a
verbal derived from lapakkX6aso,71 but the passage does serve to confirm that
technical descriptions of the sun's movements were commonly employed by
the sophist contemporaries of Dio. And, even if, as is likely, he was not familiar
with the content of any of Alexander's writings, he at least appears to have been
aware of current philosophical discussions, stating that Caracalla "showed
bitter hatred in every way toward the philosophers who were called Aristoteli-
ans, even going so far as to desire to burn their books, ... since he believed that
Aristotle was involved in the death of Alexander (the Great)."72 Given the
vehement hostility of one of its imperial dedicatees, it is remarkable that HEpt
EiRiapggvTl; even survived the time of Dio himself.
The conclusion which these several examples point towards is neither
surprising nor unexpected. The vividness and poignancy of Dio's narrative of
Severus' reign is due not only to the firsthand knowledge of the historian
himself, but also to his familiarity with the literati broadly styled as sophists,
some of whom were associated, however loosely, with "Julia's circle of mathe-
maticians and philosophers," as Philostratus describes her intellectual entou-
rage.73 What is surprising is that vestiges of Dio's contact with these educated
and influential men appear so few and difficult to identify. But no doubt more
can be found.74

University of Western Ontario, M. James Moscovich

London, Ontario

70 XXV = vol. 2 p. 195 Bruns, Supplementum Aristotelicum 2.1-2 (Berlin 1887 and 1892);
translation, as well as a photographic reprint of Bruns' Greek text, found in Alexander of
Aphrodisias on Fate, ed. R.W. Sharples (London 1983) 74 (tr.); 200 (text).
71 Rather, 6 ijXto; Ktvoigevo;.
72 77.7.3.
73 VS 622: rTod; nepi Io0.iaV YEoWRkpat; TE Kai tkoa6ot;..
74 The author acknowledges, with gratitude, amendments suggested by M.
insightful editor of the continuing series of commentaries on Dio's History, as
the anonymous referees for Historia.

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