Roman History, Volume II

by Appian, Professor Brian McGing (Translator)

Appian (Appianus) is among our principal sources for the history of the Roman Republic, particularly in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, and sometimes our only source, as for the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage. Born circa AD 95, Appian was an Alexandrian official at ease in the highest political and literary circles who later became a Roman citizen and advocate. He died during the reign of Antoninus Pius (emperor 138-161).

Appian's theme is the process by which the Roman Empire achieved its contemporary prosperity, and his unique method is to trace in individual books the story of each nation's wars with Rome up through her own civil wars. Although this triumph of "harmony and monarchy" was achieved through characteristic Roman virtues, Appian is unusually objective about Rome's shortcomings along the way.

Of the work's original 24 books, only the Preface and Books 6-9 and 11-17 are preserved complete or nearly so: those on the Spanish, Hannibalic, African, Illyrian, Syrian, and Mithridatic wars, and five books on the civil wars.

This edition of Appian replaces the original Loeb edition by Horace White and provides additional fragments, along with his letter to Fronto.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Reference

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 150

About the author

Appian of Alexandria (/ˈæpiən/; Ancient Greek: Ἀππιανός Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Appianós Alexandreús; Latin: Appianus Alexandrinus; ca. AD 95 – ca. AD 165) was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.

He was born circa 95 in Alexandria. He tells us, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Aegyptus (Egypt), he went to Rome circa 120, where he practised as an advocate, pleading cases before the emperors (probably as advocatus fisci), that in 147 at the earliest 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, 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.

Reviews

[Stuart Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume of Appian's history of Rome. Starts during the Second Punic War with Hannibal still active in Italy and runs up to the reign of Augustus Caesar. Not a history of Rome per se, but of its battle history, covered geographically, not chronologically. This volume hits the Illyrian, Syrian, and Mithridatic Wars, so the conquest of the Eastern half of the Empire. The Illyrian Wars are a catchall term covering fighting with the tribes near the Danube and down into Albania. A lot of disorganized warfare against barbarians that wasn't settled until the time of Augustus. The Syrian Wars cover Rome's fights against the generals of Alexander the Great. One by one they subjugate them and eventually take over all of Greece and coastal Asia Minor. The Mithridatic Wars are unique in that they are not named for a region but for a man, Mithridates.

Mithridates was a Syrian king who bedeviled Rome for 40 years. He ravaged the Eastern Mediterranean and much of Macedonia and Greece, funded piracy throughout the Empire, and continuously bothered Rome during a time that Rome was ill-equipped to deal with him. Civil Wars, including the uprising of Spartacus and the dictatorship of Sulla, allowed Mithridates to continue where all others had been defeated. He faced Scipio Africanus the Elder, Sulla, and finally Pompey the Great. Should be as well known as Hannibal but sadly is not.

This book is fascinating for the history. The writing is sparse and just covers basic facts, and is in many places incomplete. In any event, a must read for those interested in the history of Rome, especially pre-Empire.

[Lukerik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like volume I, a bit of a mixed bag, but when it’s good it’s really good.

The Illyrian Wars suffers from the same problems that his Spanish book does: disconnected and not quite a whole. I think Appian must have lacked the sources to pull everything together.

The Syrian and Mithridatic Wars: terrific. They read almost like novellas. Really focused on the narrative. If his history of Hannibal is anything to go by Appian has jettisoned any events that detract from from that. Time’s heavily telescoped. The character of Mithridates alone is worth the price of admission. Just the most astounding man.

I’m not sure that Appian is the best place to start with Roman history, at least not in this form. Appian’s not about to explain anything that would have been common knowledge in his day. I know a bit about the history of the region so was able to roughly orient myself, but there are no notes in these Loeb editions and I’m sure there’s a lot I’ve missed. Penguin has an edition of the Civil Wars equivalent to volumes II & IV and think I might switch to that.

[Alexander Rolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to stomach all the cruelty in this volume. There were some surprises in it too: it took much more time and effort to finish Carthage off than I expected. I also never knew that Octavian had such trouble in Illyria. He constructed four bridges for assaulting the walls of a mountain town. The first three collapsed under the weight of the men he sent across. This made them skittish about trying the fourth, so he personally led the charge across it. It collapsed, injuring him and killing some of his men. Of course he went on to become Caesar Augustus and rule the world, so I guess it's just more evidence that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[Ellana Thornton-Wheybrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book. I struggled with it to start with, admittedly, but by the half way point I was enthralled.

[Samuel Puopolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As per my review of the previous volume, it’s a great edition, but Appian isn’t my favorite historiographer— I do appreciate his material determinism though.