1st-century BC Greek historian and teacher From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 of Halicarnassus | |
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![]() An image of Dionysius of Halicarnassus from the Codices Ambrosiani. | |
Born | c. 60 BC |
Died | c. 7 BC (aged around 53) |
Citizenship | Roman |
Occupations |
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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]
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