This book fills a crucial need. It makes Dio a more teachable author and will give scholars in many areas of Roman history an entree into critical engagement with Dio as something other than a source of facts. It provides important insights into the possibilities of Greco-Roman historiography as political analysis and the origins of our modern metanarrative of the late republic and Augustan periods … Scholars and teachers of Roman historiography and political thought, as well as historians of the Augustan period, should welcome this study warmly.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

This brief book … is a solid, welcome study on a neglected subject. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through graduate students.

CHOICE

This handy little book is an excellent introduction for anyone who is reading Dio's Roman History. It has certainly made this reviewer look at Dio's work in a new light.

Classics for All

Madsen's slim work merits a careful reading by any scholar dealing with the history of Rome ... The remarks on the political views of the author of the Roman History contained in this volume are not only original and fresh, but also without any doubt provide a key to understanding and interpreting his vision of Rome's past.

Electrum

[Madsen's] prose is clear and uncomplicated; his central thesis surrounding Dio's politicised agenda gathers momentum with each section ... Overall, this is a timely and successful introduction to an author whose reputation is being actively re-examined and rehabilitated. It contains a surprising depth of information in its slender cover and yet remains readable and accessible.

The Classical Review