Appian (redirected from Appianus)

Appian (ăp`ēən), fl. 2d cent., Roman historian. He was a Greek, born in Alexandria. He held various offices in Alexandria, was an advocate in Rome, and then imperial procurator in Egypt. His history of the Roman conquests, from the founding of Rome to the reign of Trajan, is more a collection of monographs on specific events than a continuous history. Although strongly biased in favor of Roman imperialism, it reproduces many documents and sources that otherwise would have been lost. Of the 24 books, written in Greek, only Books VI–VII and Books XI–XVII have been fully preserved.