Dion Chrysostomus

Dion Chrysostomus 

(also, the Golden-Mouth). Born circa A.D. 40, in Prusa, Bithynia; died there (?) after A.D. 112. Ancient Greek orator.

During the reign of the emperor Domitian, Dion Chrysostomus was banished from Rome and then from Prusa. He wandered about the eastern border of the Roman Empire for 14 years. Later, after Domitian’s death in A.D. 96, Dion Chrysostomus enjoyed the favor of the emperors Nerva and Trajan as a theoretician of centralized authority. Some 80 speeches of Dion Chrysostomus on moral, political, and historical topics are extant (some of these are merely attributed to him), they are an important source on the history of the Roman Empire during the first and early second centuries. The so-called Boristenitica by Dion Chrysostomus contains information about the history of the Northern Black Sea Shore.

WORKS

[Opera], vols. 1-5. With an English translation. Cambridge-London, 1949-56.

REFERENCES

Sonni, A. I. “K kharakteristike Diona Khrisostoma.” Filologicheskoe obozrenie, 1898, vol. 14, book 1.
Arnim, H. von. Leben und Werke des Dio von Prusa, vols. 1-2. Berlin, 1896-98.