Cassius Dionysius ofUtica (Ancient Greek:Διονύσιος ὁ Ἰτυκαῖος)[1] was an ancient Greek agricultural writer of the 2nd century BC. The Romannomen,Cassius, combined with the Greekcognomen,Dionysius, make it likely that he was a slave (perhaps a prisoner of war), originally Greek-speaking, who was owned and afterwards freed by a Roman of thegens Cassia. Cassius Dionysius compiled a farming manual in Greek, now lost. Its title wasGeorgika ("Agriculture"); it was divided into twenty books, and was dedicated by its author to the Romanpraetor Sextilius.
According toColumella, who referred to the work in his own survivingDe Agricultura ("On Farming"), an amount equivalent to eight books of Cassius Dionysius' work, two-fifths of the whole, was translated from a preceding work inPunic byMago.[2] After Rome's destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, the Carthaginian libraries were given to the kings ofNumidia, but Mago's work was considered too important to lose. It was brought to Rome andDecimus Junius Silanus was commissioned by theRoman Senate to translate it into Latin. Whether Cassius Dionysius worked independently, or on the basis of Silanus's work, is not known; however, his residence inUtica, in formerly Carthaginian north Africa, leads to the suggestion that he knew Punic as well as Greek and Latin.
Cassius Dionysius's compilation is occasionally cited by later authors, but its length rendered it unpopular. It was soon afterwards abridged byDiophanes of Nicaea, whose version was divided into six books.[3]
The following is a partial list of fragments of Cassius Dionysius' work:
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