Cassius Dio

Part of the 'Bloomsbury Academic' series on classical figures, this work by Jesper Majbom Madsen was published in 2019 to provide a scholarly introduction to the Roman historian Cassius Dio. The volume emerged from a broader effort by the publisher to consolidate recent historical perspectives on ancient authors, aiming to bridge the gap between rigorous academic inquiry and the needs of students or informed readers navigating the complex political landscape of the Severan dynasty.

Madsen, an expert in Roman history and political culture, designed this study to contextualize Dio’s massive 'Roman History' within the turbulent transition from the Republic to the Empire. The text focuses on the intersection of Dio’s role as a high-ranking senator and his perspective as a historical witness. Upon release, it was received as a focused, accessible synthesis that helps readers decode the biases and framing techniques characteristic of Dio’s surviving records.