Appian

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A page from Pier Candido Decembrio's Latin translation of the Roman history of Appian in the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France , Lat. 5786, fol. 128r (mid 15th century)

Appian ( Appianos of Alexandria , ancient Greek Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς Appianòs Alexandreús ; * around 90 and 95 in Alexandria ; † around 160 in Rome ) was a Roman historian . His 24-book work, written in Greek and only partially preserved, deals primarily with the history of the Roman war from the legendary beginnings under Aeneas up to the early 2nd century AD.

Life

The Greek Appian came from Alexandria in Egypt and was a member of the urban upper class there. Since his autobiography , mentioned in the preface to his historical work, has been lost, little biographical information is known about him, which is in his own work, a letter from his friend Marcus Cornelius Fronto and in the library of the Byzantine patriarch Photios . He first administered one or more higher offices in the Alexandrian city administration. According to a fragment of Book 24 of his historical work, he fled from Jewish looters in a boat on an arm of the Nile during the diaspora uprising that also occurred in Egypt in 116/117 and tried to get to Arabia Petraea . At the earliest under Emperor Hadrian he received Roman citizenship and was raised to the knighthood , after which he moved to Rome. There he pursued a career as a lawyer and in this capacity was perhaps employed by the Imperial Court or the Treasury. At an advanced age, he finally received the title of procurator Augusti through the intercession of Frontos, who stood up for him several times with Emperor Antoninus Pius .

plant

Title, scope, content, state of preservation

At an advanced age, Appian wrote the historical work Rhomaika ( Ῥωμαικά "Roman history") in 24 books in Greek from around 150 AD . In it, he dealt with the wars of Rome , beginning from the time of the kings , up to the early 2nd century AD. A special feature of the Rhomaika is their order from an ethnographic point of view (which, among other things, was still used by Prokopios in the 6th century). The countries or peoples were presented chronologically in the order in which their subjugation by Rome began until their integration into the Roman Empire was completed. This was followed by the story of the civil wars and the conquest of Egypt. The acquisitions made under the emperors up to Trajan were briefly told in a volume / (book 22), and Trajan's campaigns in Dacia and Arabia were more detailed . Judging by Appian's announcements in his work, this should be followed by the description of Trajan's Parthian War and an overview of the financial and military circumstances of the empire form the end; but both plans do not appear to have been carried out.

Photios, the complete work of Appian's history, gives a list of all 24 books. It was broken down as follows:

  • 1. Βασιλική Basilike : Roman kings from Aeneas
  • 2. Ἰταλική Italike : conquest of central Italy
  • 3. Σαμνιτική Samnitike : Samnite Wars
  • 4. Κελτική Keltike : War against the Celts
  • 5. Σικελικὴ καὶ νησιωτική Sikelike kai nesiotike : Conquest of Sicily and other islands neighboring Italy
  • 6. Ἰβηρική Iberike : Wars in Iberia
  • 7. Ἀννιβαϊκή Annibaike : Fights against Hannibal in Italy
  • 8. Καρχηδονιακὴ Karchedoniake (in editions as Libyke referred; Punic Wars against Carthage ) and Νομαδική Nomadike (fighting in Numidia )
  • 9. Μακεδονικὴ καὶ Ἰλλυρική Makedonike kai Illyrike : Roman-Macedonian wars and fighting in Illyria
  • 10. Ἑλληνικὴ καὶ Ἰωνική Ellenike kai Ionike : Wars in Greece and Ionia ( Asia Minor )
  • 11. Συριακή καὶ Παρθική Syriake kai Parthike : Wars in Syria , especially against Antiochus III. , and wars against the Parthians
  • 12. Μιθριδάτειος Mithridateios : Wars against Mithridates VI. from Pontos
  • 13-17 Ἐμφυλίων Emphylion : Roman civil wars from 133 to 35 BC Chr .; Gracches , Sulla's battles against Marius , Caesar's against Pompey, and Antony and Octavian against the murderers of Caesar ; as the last event of the execution is Sextus Pompey reported
  • 18.-21. Αἰγυπτιακῶν Aigyptiakon : Wars in Egypt
  • 22. Ἑκατονταετία Hekatontaetia : Hekatontaetie, d. H. the conquests of the emperors to Trajan
  • 23–24 Δακική, Ἀράβιος Dakike kai Arabios : Trajan's wars in Dacia and Arabia

The Proemium of Book 1, Books 6–7, the first part of Book 8 relating to Carthage, the second part of Book 9 dealing with Illyria, the first part of Book 11, which describes Rome's Syrian Wars, and Books 12– are fully preserved in manuscripts. 17th There is also an epitome of Book 4 and the beginning of Book 1 in the excerpt from Photios and in a manuscript (Codex Paris. Suppl. Gr. 607 A), an autobiographical fragment from Book 24 in the same Parisian manuscript from Athos , as well individual pieces from books 1–5 and 9 in the collection of excerpts from Greek historians organized by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (so-called Constantinian excerpts ). Finally, there are few and scant fragments in the Byzantine lexicon Suda and other lexicographers. In early Byzantine times a Parthian history, probably compiled from Plutarch , was appended to the part of Book 11 dealing with Syria; it is not from Appian and is meaningless from a historical point of view. From books 10 and 18-24 - with the exception of the mentioned fragment of book 24 - no fragments at all have been preserved, so that they are completely lost.

The text of books 6–8 is only known from a single manuscript (Vatic. 141, 11th century). For the Proömium, the first part of the same manuscript (12th century) is the best tradition, only slightly improved by Class O (see below) and the translation by Pier Candido Decembrio , and the only one for the epitomes of the Celtic. The rest is passed down through an archetype (O), which has to be made from three manuscripts (Monac. 374, Marcian. 387 and Vatic. 134). There is also a much worse tradition, which is present in many young manuscripts (i) and the Latin translation by Pier Candido Decembrio, written on the orders of Pope Nicholas V. The latter is an aid of dubious value.

Style, meaning, sources

Since Appian was writing at a time when Rome's borders were intact and the Imperium Romanum seemed to be at a peak, he was correspondingly positive about Rome's greatness. Its presentation is very uneven; sometimes in detail, then again erratically. He writes factually, without phrases and without attic pretensions. He keeps the speeches he has put in very briefly. He probably used the prominent ethnographic classification scheme to make it easier for his readers to orientate themselves in what was happening simultaneously on several scenes.

Appian's history is the main source for important periods in Roman history. His description of the Roman civil wars is particularly important. So Appian is the only historiographical source that the revolutionary movements of the Gracchi to the Social War describes in detail. For the following period of civil war it is the main source next to Caesar and Cassius Dio . In order to assess the historical reliability of the representation, it is important to know which sources Appian used to create his 900-year work. This question, which is often discussed in research, is difficult to answer because Appian only mentions the source he has consulted in special cases, but usually does not mention the sources.

Eduard Schwartz said that Appian for older Roman history, whose representation shows similarities with Dionysius of Halicarnassus , is a contamination of various more recent annals . Appian did not represent the First Punic War after Polybius , as significant deviations of both authors show. Even for the later period, the historians Polybios, Poseidonios , Valerius Antias , Sallust , Gaius Asinius Pollio , Titus Livius and others were not written out directly, but were based only on the mediation of Latin, early imperial annals. Hence the tendentious, often novel-like transformation of the mentioned, indirectly used historians.

Appian is likely to have used several sources, and contrary to Eduard Schwartz's opinion, also Greek sources. The now lost universal history of Timagenes of Alexandria was assumed to be the source for games hostile to Rome . The ancient historian Matthias Gelzer took the view that Appian used a Greek compilation from the early imperial period as a direct template for the creation of his work. But even later work did not produce completely satisfactory results with regard to Appian's sources, so that this problem does not seem solvable at the moment. After all, the very negative judgment made by Eduard Schwartz in his 1895 article on Appian in Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity about the historical value of Appian's work was revised by later researchers in more balanced studies, so that their assessments are less drastic. Now Appian is considered a relatively credible historian.

Edition history

The Roman history of Appian was first published in a Latin translation by Pier Candido Decembrio (Venice mid-15th century). The first printed edition of part of the original Greek text was published by Carolus Stephanus after two incorrect codices in Paris in 1551 . An improved Latin version of Sigismund Gelenius followed , which was published after his death (1554). The Greek text of Books 6 and 7 was first edited by H. Stephanus (Geneva 1557). Ursinus published some fragments in Antwerp in 1582. H. Stephanus also organized a second edition of the Greek text with the Latin translation of Gelenius (Geneva 1592). Appian's book on the Roman battles in Illyria was first published by David Höschel (Augsburg 1599), and Valesius added a few more fragments (Paris 1634). A new edition of the edition by H. Stephanus appeared in Amsterdam in 1670. The edition by Johannes Schweighäuser (3 volumes, Leipzig 1785), which was excellent for its time, represented a significant advance . Angelo Mai discovered some new fragments and published them in the second volume of his Nova Collectio Vet. Script. (Reprinted in Lucht's Polybii et Appiani Historiarum Excerpta Vaticana , Altona 1830). Mai also discovered a letter from Appian to Fronto (first published in Niebuhr's Fronto edition, p. 229). L. Mendelssohn obtained a two-volume edition of Appian's work from 1879–81. Volume 1 was re-edited by P. Viereck and A. G. Roos in 1939 (reprint 1962), as well as volume 2 by P. Viereck in 1905.

An English translation of Appian, arranged by Raufe Newbery and Henrie Bynniman, appeared in 1579, and another was published in 1696. Horace White edited Appian's work 1912-13 with an English translation in four volumes. French translations of the work came from Claude Seyssel (Lyon 1544) and Odet Desmarres (Paris 1659), as well as a translation of the civil wars by Combes Dounous (Paris 1803). A German translation was provided by F. W. J. Dillenius (2 volumes, Frankfurt 1793–1800).

Text editions and translations

Editions and translations of individual sections

  • Appian's Outline of the Seleucid History (Syriake) . Edited by Kai Brodersen , Munich 1991.
  • The Civil Wars . Edited by John Carter, London 1996.
  • Marjeta Šašel Kos: Appian and Illyricum (=  Situla. Razprave Narodnega Muzeja Slovenije / Dissertationes Musei Nationalis Sloveniae. Volume 43). Narodni muzej Slovenije, Ljubljana 2005. (Text and translation of the Illyrica with a detailed study of the historical background)

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Appian  Sources and Full Texts

Remarks

  1. ^ D. Magnino: Appianos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 903-905 (here: 903).
  2. ↑ Jonah Lendering: Appian . In: Livius.org (English)
  3. ^ A b Eduard Schwartz: Appianus 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, columns 216-237 (here: column 216).
  4. ^ Photios, Bibliotheke , Codex 57, pp. 15 b, 21 - 17 a, 21.
  5. ^ A b Eduard Schwartz: Appianus 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 216-237 (here: Col. 217).
  6. ↑ a b D. Magnino: Appianos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 903-905 (here: 904).
  7. ↑ a b W. Spoerri: Appian . In: Lexikon der Alten Welt , 1965, Sp. 230.
  8. ^ Eduard Schwartz: Appianus 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 216-237 (here: Col. 217).
  9. ↑ Jürgen Werner : Appianos. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 463-465 (here: Col. 463 f.).
  10. ^ Eduard Schwartz: Appianus 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, col. 216-237 (here: col. 218-237).
  11. ^ A b Jürgen Werner: Appianos. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 463-465 (here: Col. 464).
  12. ^ Matthias Gelzer, in: Gnomon , Vol. 31 (1959), p. 180.
  13. ^ For example, Bernhard Goldmann: Uniformity and independence of the Historia Romana des Appian , 1988.
  14. ^ D. Magnino: Appianos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 903-905 (here: 905).
  15. ↑ Appianus , in: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867), Vol. 1, pp. 247 f.
  16. ↑ Appianus , in: The biographical dictionary of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge , Volume 3 (1843), p. 195.
personal data
SURNAME Appian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Appianus of Alexandria; Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman historian
DATE OF BIRTH after 90
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH after 160
Place of death Rome