Translated by Earnest Cary
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. He taught in Rome while studying the Latin language, collecting material for his history of Rome. His literary style was Atticistic — imitating the classical Greek of Herodotus. His major work, Roman Antiquities, embraced the history of Rome from the mythical period to the beginning of the First Punic War. Divided into twenty books, of which the first nine remain entire, while the tenth and eleventh are nearly complete, the remaining books exist in fragments in the excerpts of the Roman Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus and an epitome discovered by Angelo Mai in a Milan manuscript. The first three books of Appian, Plutarch’s Life of Camillus and Life of Coriolanus are believed to be largely indebted to Dionysius.
Of particular note is Dionysius’ version of the Romulus and Remus myth, concerning the legendary founding of Rome. He relates an alternate, “non-fantastical” version of the twins’ birth, survival and youth. Numitor manages to switch the twins at birth with two other infants. The twins are delivered by their grandfather to Faustulus to be fostered by him and his wife. Faustulus is descended from the first Greek colonists in Latium. He is the caretaker for Amulius’ holdings around Palatine hill. He is then persuaded to care for the twins by his brother Faustinus, who tends to the kings herds on nearby Aventine Hill. Their adopted mother is Faustulus’ wife Laurentia, a former prostitute. According to Plutarch, lupa (Latin for “wolf”) was a common term for members of her profession and this gave rise to the she-wolf legend. The twins receive a proper education in the city of Gabii.
Dionysius’ chief object was to reconcile the Greeks to the rule of Rome, expanding upon the good qualities of their conquerors, suggesting with the support of ancient sources that the Romans were genuine descendants of the older Greeks. According to Dionysius, history is philosophy teaching by examples — though some commentators have been quick to question his bias as a Greek rhetorician. Nevertheless, he carefully consults the best authorities and his work and that of Livy are the only connected and detailed extant accounts of early Roman history.