Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (dīənĭsh`ēəs, hăl'ĭkärnăs`əs), fl. late 1st cent. B.C., Greek rhetorician and historian. He taught at Rome and was one of the most celebrated of ancient critics. Among his extant works are On the Arrangement of Words, On Imitation, On the Early Orators, On Thucydides, and On the Eloquence of Demosthenes. The Art of Rhetoric attributed to him is probably of later date. Of his longest work, Antiquities of Rome, in 20 books, approximately the first half is extant. In it the history of Rome to the 3d cent. B.C. is covered.

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus

(flourished c. 20 BC) Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric. Born in Halicarnassus, Caria (Asia Minor), Dionysius went to Rome in 30 BC. His history of Rome, from its origins to the First Punic War, is written from a pro-Roman standpoint but carefully researched. It is, with Livy's, the most valuable source for early Roman history. Its 20 books began to appear in 7 BC; the last 10 have been lost.

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus 

Years of birth and death unknown. Ancient Greek historian and rhetorician of the second half of the first century B.C.

Dionysius was born in Halicarnassus (Asia Minor). Beginning in 30 B.C. he lived in Rome, where he wrote in Greek his principal work, Roman Antiquities, a history of Rome from mythological times to the beginning of the First Punic War. Of its 20 books the first nine, substantial parts of Books 10 and 11, and fragments of the remaining ones have been preserved; in the books that have been preserved the exposition is brought down to 442 B.C.’ Dionysius’ political views were close to those prevailing in senatorial, aristocratic circles. His writings are marked by an uncritical attitude toward sources. Dionysius was also the author of several works on rhetoric (On the Arrangement of Words, On the Ancient Orators).

WORKS

Opuscula, vols. 1-2. Leipzig, 1899-1904.
Dionysii Halicarnassensis Antiquitatum Romanoum quae supersunt. Edited by C. Jacoby. vols. 1-5. Leipzig, 1885-1925.
In Russian translation:
In Antichnye teorii iazyka i stilia. Moscow-Leningrad, 1936.