Appian

Appian was a Greek historian of the Roman Empire, active in the second century CE. His Roman History survives in part, including books on the civil wars and the Gracchan movement.

Roman Republic: The ancient Roman state before the establishment of imperial rule under Augustus. Its political breakdown supplies the setting for much of Appian’s surviving history.
Roman History: Appian’s multi-book history of Rome, surviving unevenly from its earliest traditions through the second century CE. This work preserves Appian’s narrative of Rome’s expansion and internal conflicts.
Alexandria: An ancient Mediterranean city founded by Alexander the Great in Egypt and a major center of Greek scholarship. Appian was born in Alexandria and identified his origins in his work.
Battle of Actium: The naval battle in 31 BCE in which Octavian defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Appian narrates the conflict that ended the last major civil war of the Republic.
Roman civil wars: A series of armed conflicts among Roman factions and leaders that weakened the Republic and enabled imperial rule. Appian’s account of these conflicts is among the best-preserved parts of his history.
Ethnography: The description of peoples, customs, and territories, often included in ancient historical writing. Appian frequently frames Roman expansion through histories of the peoples Rome conquered.
Antoninus Pius: Roman emperor from 138 to 161 CE, whose reign was marked by relative internal stability. Appian wrote during the Antonine period, several generations after the Republic’s collapse.
Mithridatic Wars: The wars between Rome and Mithridates VI of Pontus, fought from 88 to 63 BCE. Appian’s surviving books preserve a substantial narrative of Rome’s eastern wars.
Gracchi: Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Roman tribunes whose reform efforts provoked political violence in the late second century BCE. Appian opens his account of the civil wars with the Gracchan movement.
Civil Wars (Appian): The surviving portion of Appian’s Roman History covering Roman conflicts from the Gracchi to the establishment of imperial rule. Its sustained narrative links political competition to recurring civil violence.

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