Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Greek Διονύσιος / Dionysius, Latin Dionysius, * about 54 BC in Halicarnassus, † approx 8 AD ) was a Greek -speaking Roman orator, writer and historian of the first century BC

Life and work

As a contemporary of Augustus, he comes in the year 29 BC to Rome and author of several writings, including his magnum opus, a history of Rome (Greek Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία, Rômaïkề Archaiologia, lat Antiquitates Romanae = "Roman Antiquities" there, so, mutatis mutandis, about "Roman prehistory " ) from its origins to the beginning of the First Punic War in twenty books, of which the first 10 books are completely preserved, the eleventh book is handed down to us in parts and also exist fragments before Constantine Porphyrogenitus and many other authors. In it, he tried to portray the Roman and Greek origins as strongly associated with one another; also the history of the city of Rome is ( presented as the ideal polis ) interpreted teleologically, that is, it will look back at specific reasons for the ( idealized ) rise of Rome to the " center of the world " in the sense of imperial Augustan policy view - not least for this reason, the work also used by many later, imperial authors, including some of Plutarch, Appian and Cassius Dio Cocceianus.

Despite these alarming circumstances surrounding the work around for the time of the Gallic invasion of Italy until the first Punic War ( Books XIV to XX ) is to be regarded as one of the most important sources for the history, not least because our other sources are missing for large areas.

In addition to his work as a historian Dionysius is to look at but mainly as a rhetorician, than which it is used by modern historians often classified solely because of his theses to the Greek origins of Rome. He writes, among other things, a treatise "On the arrangement of the words " (Greek Περὶ Συνθέσεως Ὀνομάτων, Perì synthéseôs onomátôn ), as well as an essay on ancient (especially Attic ) speakers, whose style and its imitation (Greek Τῶν Ἀρχαίων Κρίσις, sound archaíôn crisis ) a " rhetoric " (Greek Τέχνη Ῥητορική, Techne rhetorike ) and some short reviews on earlier Greek authors. About him a treatise on the eloquence of Demosthenes is transmitted to us. In his later works deal with more formal aspects of speech and can be described in the leading dispute the rhetoricians of his time in general as a strong supporter of Atticism in contrast to Asianism.