Extract

Appian (Ἀππιανός) of Alexandria, Greek historian. Born in Alexandria (1) at the end of the 1st centuryce, died in Rome c. 160ce; the inscription on a particular Roman sarcophagus (IGUR IV 1700) suggests that it may well be his. Appian experienced the Jewish uprising of 116/7ce, became a Roman citizen, moved to Rome as an advocate, and eventually gained, through the influence of his friend M. Cornelius Fronto, the dignitas (“honorary position”) of a procurator under Antoninus Pius, which enabled him to devote his time to writing his Roman History. After the preface and Book 1 on early Rome in the period of the kings, this work is arranged ethnographically, dealing with the individual peoples as Rome conquered them: Book 2 covers the Italians; Book 3, the Samnites; Book 4, the Celts; Book 5, the Sicilians; Book 6, the Iberians; Book 7, Hannibal; Book 8, the Carthaginians (as well as the Libyans and Nomads); Book 9, the Macedonians and Illyrians; Book 10, the Greeks and Ionians; Book 11, the Syrians (Seleucids) and Parthians; and Book 12, Mithridates VI.