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{{
{{About|the historian}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Appian
| image = Appian (Latin), Florence, BML, Plut. 68.19.jpg
| caption = A page of the Latin translation of Appian’s "Roman History" by [[Pier Candido Decembrio]], with imaginary portrait of the historian
| birth_name = Appianus Alexandrinus
| birth_date = {{circa|lk=no|95}}
| birth_place = [[Alexandria]], [[Egypt (Roman province)|
| death_date = {{circa|lk=no|165}} (aged around 70)
| death_place = [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]
| occupation = Historian, lawyer
| mother =
}}
'''Appian of
He was born c. 95 in [[Alexandria]]. After holding the
His principal surviving work (Ρωμαϊκά ''Romaiká'', known in [[Latin]] as ''Historia Romana'' and in [[English language|English]] as ''Roman History'') was written in [[Greek language|Greek]] in 24 books, before 165. This work more closely resembles a [[Monographic series|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.<ref name=Loeb/> The work is very valuable, especially for the period of the [[Roman Republican civil wars|civil wars]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Appian|volume=2|pages=221–222}}</ref>
''The Civil Wars'', books 13–17 of the ''Roman History'', concern mainly the end of the [[Roman Republic]] and take a conflict-based view and approach to history. Despite the lack of cited sources for his works, these books of the ''Roman History'' are the only extant comprehensive description of these momentous decades of Roman history. The other extant work of Appian is his
== Life ==
Little is known of the life of Appian of Alexandria. He wrote an autobiography that has been almost completely lost.<ref>Appian Proem. 62</ref> Information about Appian is distilled from his own writings and a letter
It is believed that Appian moved to Rome in 120, where he became a
== Works ==
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Appian began writing his history around the middle of the second century AD.
Only sections from half of the original 24 books survive today of a much larger history known as ''The Roman History'', namely books 6-7, much of 8, 9, and 11, and 12-17 (only fragments of books 1-5 and of the remainder of 8 and 9 are preserved, while books 10 and 18-24 are lost entirely).<ref name=OCD>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]] |edition=3rd |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Hornblower |editor-first2=Antony |editor-last2=Spawforth |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |title=Appian |page=130 |first=Kai |last=Brodersen }}</ref> The section of this history known as ''The Civil Wars''
Besides Appian, this period is also covered by a handful of ancient authors with varying degrees of detail and viewpoints. The commentaries of Julius Caesar record his personal, mainly military, observations of the [[Gallic Wars]]
===''The Foreign Wars''===
[[File:Salida de los vacceos contra los romanos, Eugenio Oliva.jpg|thumb|Painting by [[Eugenio Oliva]] depicting the [[Vaccaei]] going out to defend [[Palencia]] from the troops of [[Lucius Licinius Lucullus (consul 151 BC)|Lucius Licinius Lucullus]] in 151 BC. The historian Appian is depicted at right recording events; this is a poetic fiction, as Appian was writing from a standpoint three centuries in the future.]]
Another work of Appian's history which still survives mostly extant is called ''The Foreign Wars''. This history describes the wars the Romans fought against other cultures throughout their history. The mostly extant work narrates the wars in Spain (book 6), the [[Punic Wars]] in both Italy and Africa (books 7 and 8), the wars against the [[Seleucid Empire]] (book 11), and the [[Mithridatic Wars]] (book 12). Several small fragments also survive, describing the early [[Roman kingdom]] (book 1) and the wars against the central Italians (book 2), [[Samnites]] (book 3), [[Illyrians]] (book 9), Macedonians (book 9), [[Numidians]] (book 8), and the Gauls (book 4).<ref name=OCD/> 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. For example, the chapter on Spain recounts Roman history in Spain chronologically with the Romans' first intervention in Spain during the War with [[Hannibal]]. The book goes on to describe the Roman conquest of several regions of Spain, followed by their wars with Spanish tribes and the [[Numantine War]]. The chapter on Spain concludes with the war against [[Sertorius]] in roughly 61 BC. Likewise, the chapter on the Hannibalic wars only recounts the battles that took place on the Italian Peninsula during the second Punic war, while the chapters on the Punic War recount all the action that occurred in northern Africa during the first and second Punic war.
Of the books which are now entirely lost, book 10 described the wars in Greece and [[Ionia]], books 18-21 discussed Egypt, book 22 covered the history of the Empire up to the reign of [[Trajan]], book 23 covered Trajan's wars [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|against the Dacians]], [[Kitos War|the Jews]], and [[Trajan's Parthian campaign|the Parthians]], and book 24 described his annexation of [[Arabia Petraea]].<ref name=OCD/>
===Sources===
One might expect that a historical work covering nine centuries and countless different peoples would involve a multitude of
== Editions ==
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| publisher = World Digital Library
| title = Appiani Alexandrini Historia Publio Candido interprete Ac praeterea Anonymi Compendium historiae ab excessu Constantini usque ad Ioannem XXIII
|
| language =
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11613/
}} (a translation of Appian's History into Latin)
* ''[[Editio princeps]]'', 1551
* [[Johann Schweighäuser|Schweighäuser]], 1785
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== External links ==
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0231 Original Greek text] of the Civil Wars (Mendelssohn ed.) at Perseus Digital Library.
* [https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian.html Appian's ''Foreign Wars''] at [[Livius.org]]▼
* [
▲* [https://
* {{Internet Archive author |search=( (Appian OR Appianus) AND Alexandria )}}
* {{Librivox author |id=16725}}
* Review of Paul Goukowsky and Phillippe Torrens, eds., [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629233104/http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-06-51.html ''Appien: Histoire romaine. Tome X, livre XV: Guerres civiles, livre III''] in: ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review''.
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[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:
[[Category:2nd-century Egyptian people
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian writers]]
[[Category:Roman-era Alexandrians]]
[[Category:Tax officials]]
[[Category:Government accounting officials]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman equites]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman jurists]]
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