Historiography of Rome and Its Empire Series Carsten H. Lange and Jesper M. MadsenAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Cassius Dio in the Age of Iron and Rust 1 Survey of Scholarship on Cassius Dio’s Roman History 2 The Remains of the Contemporary Books 3 Approaching the Contemporary History 4 Plan of This Study1 Cassius Dio’s Literary Career 1 The Work on Dreams and Portents 2 The Work on Wars and Civil Wars 3 Cassius Dio’s Roman History 4 Conclusion2 Cassius Dio and the Historiographic Tradition 1 Writing Roman History ab urbe condita 2 Writing under Autocracy 3 Greek Constitutional Analysis 4 Cassius Dio’s Roman History 5 Conclusion3 Cassius Dio and the Roman Monarchy 1 Monarchy v. Democracy 2 Young Caesar’s Choice: Between Monarchy and Tyranny 3 The Roman Monarchy: Decline and Renewal 4 Good v. Bad Emperors 5 Conclusion4 Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Historical Method in Cassius Dio’s Contemporary History 1 Cassius Dio on Marcus Aurelius 2 Marcus Aurelius and Commodus: A Study in Contrasts 3 From Marcus to Commodus: The Role of the Historian 4 Conclusion5 The Depiction of Septimius Severus: Content and Structure 1 Septimius Severus in Rome 2 Septimius Severus’ Civil Wars and Eastern Campaigns 3 Septimius Severus’ decennalia and the Role of Plautianus 4 Coda: Septimius Severus in Britain 5 Conclusion6 Mixed Depictions: Pertinax, Septimius Severus, and Macrinus 1 Cassius Dio’s Obituary for Septimius Severus 2 The Obituaries of Septimius Severus and Marcus Aurelius 3 Other Mixed Depictions in the Contemporary Books 4 The Mixed Depiction of Pertinax 5 The Mixed Depiction of Macrinus 6 Conclusion: Reading Dio’s Mixed Depictions7 Caracalla and the Limits of Dynastic Succession 1 Approaching Caracalla 2 Caracalla and Geta: A Broken Dynasty Exposed 3 Caracalla: An Emperor Isolated and Alone 4 Caracalla on Campaign 5 Caracalla and the Senate 6 Caracalla’s End 7 The Content of Cassius Dio’s Account 8 Conclusion8 The Re-creation of the Severan Dynasty: From Macrinus to Severus Alexander 1 Macrinus, Equestrian Emperor 2 From Caracalla to Elagabalus: The Role of Julia Domna 3 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Elagabalus): Making Mockery? 4 And in the End: Severus Alexander 5 ConclusionConclusion: Out of the Dust and Slaughter 1 The Importance of Writing Contemporary History 2 Cassius Dio and the History of His Own Time 3 Senatorial History in a Period of DeclineBibliographyIndex