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This volume presents the first comprehensive study in English of the
Roman History by Appian of Alexandria. Appian was an Egyptian Greek and Roman citizen, who wrote his history of Rome in twenty-four books, covering the period from the foundation of the city to Trajan's wars, in the middle of the second century CE. Luke Pitcher explains and analyses what it is known about Appian's life, the structure of his work (which has not survived completely intact), and his use of sources. He then examines how Appian organizes and structures his material, and the considerations which inform his treatment of spaces, peoples, polities, and individuals within history. A full appreciation of Appian's achievement requires an awareness of the deeper structures of the
Roman History as a whole: in particular, how the first half of the work (which, unusually, covers Roman conquests area by area, rather than in one long chronological sweep) lays the ground for the second, where towering personalities such as Julius Caesar bring an end to the Roman Republic in the five books of the
Civil Wars. The closing chapters build on these arguments to create a picture of what Appian tries to achieve in his history, and what this says about him as a historian.
List of contents
- Part I. Appian, The Preface, and the Roman History
- 1: The Life of Appian
- 2: The Composition, Structure, and Sources of the Roman History
- 3: Understanding the Preface
- 4: The Structure of the Individual Books
- Part II. Beyond the Preface-Emergent Structures and Techniques of the Roman History
- 5: Spaces, Cities, and Homelands
- 6: Communities and Collectives
- 7: The Individual in the History
- Part III. The Aims, Goals, and Achievement of the History
- 8: The Aims of Appian (I)-The Roman History as a History
- 9: The Aims of Appian (II)-Enjoyment and Instruction
- Afterword
About the author
Luke Pitcher read Literae Humaniores at Exeter College, Oxford, and did graduate work at Somerville College, Oxford. He was Esmée Fairbairn Junior Research Fellow at New College, Oxford, from 2002 to 2004. From 2004 to 2009 he was Lecturer in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University. Since 2009, he has been Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Classics.
Summary
Appian presents the first comprehensive study in English of the Roman History by Appian of Alexandria. Luke Pitcher examines how Appian organizes and structures his material, and the considerations which inform his treatment of spaces, peoples, polities, and individuals within history.
