Appian of Alexandria (; Greek: Ἀππιανὸς
Ἀλεξανδρεύς Appianòs Alexandreús;
Latin: Appianus Alexandrinus; c. 95 – c. AD
165) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship
who flourished during the reigns of Emperors
of Rome Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.
He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding
the chief offices in the province of Aegyptus
(Egypt), he went to Rome c. 120, where he
practised as an advocate, pleading cases before
the emperors (probably as advocatus fisci).
It was in 147 at the earliest that he was
appointed to the office of procurator, probably
in Egypt, on the recommendation of his friend
Marcus Cornelius Fronto, a well-known litterateur.
Because the position of procurator was open
only to members of the equestrian order (the
"knightly" class), his possession of this
office tells us about Appian's family background.
His principal surviving work (Ῥωμαϊκά
Rhomaiká, known in Latin as Historia Romana
and in English as Roman History) was written
in Greek in 24 books, before 165. This work
more closely resembles a series of monographs
than a connected history. It gives an account
of various peoples and countries from the
earliest times down to their incorporation
into the Roman Empire, and survives in complete
books and considerable fragments. The work
is very valuable, especially for the period
of the civil wars.The Civil Wars, five of
the later books in the corpus, concern mainly
the end of the Roman Republic and take a conflict-based
approach to history.
== Life ==
Little is known of the life of Appian of Alexandria.
He wrote an autobiography that has been almost
completely lost. Information about Appian
is distilled from his own writings and a letter
by his friend Cornelius Fronto. However, it
is certain that Appian was born around the
year AD 95 in Alexandria, the capital of Roman
Egypt. Since his parents were Roman citizens
capable of paying for their son's education,
it can be inferred that Appian belonged to
the wealthy upper classes.
It is believed that Appian moved to Rome in
120, where he became a barrister. In the introduction
to his Roman History, he boasts "that he pleaded
cases in Rome before the emperors." The emperors
he claims to have addressed must have been
either Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius and definitely
Antoninus Pius, for Appian remained in Egypt
at least until the end of the reign of Trajan
(117). In the letter of Cornelius Fronto,
it is revealed that a request on behalf of
Appian to receive the rank of procurator occurred
during the co-regency of Marcus Aurelius and
his brother Lucius Verus between 147 and 161.
Although Appian won this office, it is unclear
whether it was a real job or an honorific
title. The only other certain biographical
datum is that Appian's Roman History appeared
sometime before 162. This is one of the few
primary historical sources for the period.
== Works ==
Appian began writing his history around the
middle of the second century AD. Only sections
from half of the original 24 books survive
today. The most important remnants of Appian's
work are the five books on the Civil Wars—books
13–17 of the Roman History. These five books
stand out because they are the only comprehensive,
meticulous source available on an extremely
significant historical period, during which
Roman politics were in turmoil because of
factional strife.
Especially notable is this work's ethnographic
structure. Appian most likely used this structure
to facilitate his readers' orientation through
the sequence of events, which are united only
by their relationship to Rome. A literary
example of this can be found from Appian's
Civil Wars (part 5 of 17). It states, "And
now civil discord broke out again worse than
ever and increased enormously…so in the
course of events in the Roman empire was partitioned…by
these three men: Antony, Lepidus, and the
one who was first called Octavius…shortly
after this division they fell to quarrelling
among themselves…Octavius…first deprived
Lepidus of Africa…and afterward, as the
result of the battle of Actium, took from
Antony all the provinces lying between Syria
and the Adriatic gulf."
One might expect that a historical work covering
nine centuries and countless different peoples
would involve a multitude of testimonials
from different periods. However, Appian's
sources remain uncertain, as he only mentions
the source of his information under special
circumstances. He may have relied primarily
on one author for each book, whom he did not
follow uncritically, since Appian also used
additional sources for precision and correction.
At our present state of knowledge questions
regarding Appian’s sources cannot be resolved.
== Editions ==
Appiani Alexandrini Historia Publio Candido
interprete Ac praeterea Anonymi Compendium
historiae ab excessu Constantini usque ad
Ioannem XXIII (in Latin). World Digital Library.
Retrieved 2014-02-28.
Editio princeps, 1551
Schweighäuser, 1785
Bekker, 1852
Ludwig Mendelssohn, 1878–1905, Appiani Historia
Romana, Bibliotheca Teubneriana
Paul Goukowsky, 1997–, Appien. Histoire
romaine (Greek text, French translation, notes),
Collection Budé.
Carsana, Chiara (ed.). Commento storico al
libro II delle Guerre Civili di Appiano (parte
I). Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2007. 309 pp. (Pubblicazioni
della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università
di Pavia, 116).English translationsW. B.,
1578 (black letter) – possibly William Barker
– used by Shakespeare
J. D[avies], 1679
Horace White, 1899 (Bohn's Classical Library);
Book I edited by James Leigh Strachan-Davidson,
1902.
Books XIII–XVII (Civil Wars), trans. John
Carter, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1996
== Notes ==
== References ==
William Smith (ed.) (1870), Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol.
1, pp. 247–248
== External links ==
Works written by or about Appian at Wikisource
Appian's Foreign Wars at Livius.org
Appian's Civil Wars at LacusCurtius
Works by or about Appian at Internet Archive
Review of Paul Goukowsky and Phillippe Torrens,
eds., Appien: Histoire romaine. Tome X, livre
XV: Guerres civiles, livre III in: Bryn Mawr
Classical Review.
