Roman History - Classic Text | Alexandria
Roman History by Appian: A monumental historical work composed in the 2nd century CE by the Alexandrian-Roman historian Appian (c. 95-165 CE), chronicling Rome's rise from a city-state to an empire through a unique arrangement of geographical and ethnographical narratives. This extensive work, originally written in Greek under the title "Romaika," survives partially but remains one of our most valuable sources for understanding Roman expansion and civil wars.
First mentioned in Byzantine encyclopedias and extensively quoted by later Roman historians, Appian's work originally comprised 24 books, of which only about half survive intact. The text emerged during the reign of Antoninus Pius, when the Roman Empire reached its zenith, offering both contemporary insights and historical retrospection. As an Alexandrian who served as a procurator in Rome, Appian brought a distinctive perspective to Roman history, combining Greek analytical traditions with firsthand knowledge of Roman administration.
What sets Appian's work apart is its innovative organizational principle: rather than following strict chronological order, he arranged his narrative by regions and peoples as they came into conflict with Rome. This geographical approach provides invaluable details about Rome's sequential conquest of the Mediterranean world. His account of the civil wars (Books 13-17) is particularly celebrated for its vivid descriptions and remains our primary source for many crucial events, including the wars between Caesar and Pompey. Intriguingly, Appian's attention to administrative details and economic factors in historical events was unusual for his time, suggesting access to now-lost official records.
The work's influence extends beyond antiquity, profoundly impacting Renaissance and modern historiography. Contemporary historians value Appian's account not only for its factual content but also for its insight into how Romans of the 2nd century CE understood their own history. His detailed treatment of the civil wars continues to inform modern debates about the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire, while his perspective as a "romanized" Greek intellectual offers crucial insights into provincial attitudes toward Roman power. The question of how Appian accessed his sources and the extent to which his account reflects official Roman propaganda remains a fertile ground for scholarly investigation.