Appian’s Roman History, Volume I

Name: Appian’s Roman History, Volume I
Author: Appian of Alexandria

Ancient Greek with Horace White’s English translation

Appian’s Roman History, Volume IPreface · Sections 2–3

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Facing Pages · Branch 2 of 315

Preface · Sections 2–3

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Ancient Greek

p. 4

μοῖρα Ἀράβων, ἐχόμενοι δὲ τῶν Παλαιστινῶν Φοίνικες ἐπὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ καὶ Φοινίκων ὕπερθεν ἥ τε Κοίλη Συρία καὶ μέχρι ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Εὐφράτην ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἄνω Παλμυρηνοί τε καὶ ἡ Παλμυρηνῶν ψάμμος, ἐπ’ αὐτὸν Εὐφράτην καθήκουσα, Κίλικές τε Σύρων ἐχόμενοι καὶ Καππαδόκαι Κιλίκων ὅμοροι καὶ μέρος Ἀρμενίων, οὓς καλοῦσιν Ἀρμενίαν βραχυτέραν, παρά τε τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον ἄλλα ὅσα Ποντικὰ Ῥωμαίων ὑπήκοα γένη.

Σύροι μὲν δὴ καὶ Κίλικες ἐς τήνδε τὴν θάλατταν ἀφορῶσιν, Ἀρμένιοι δὲ καὶ Καππαδόκαι ἔς τε τὰ Ποντικὰ γένη καθήκουσι καὶ ἀνὰ τὴν μεσόγαιον ἐπὶ τὴν καλουμένην Ἀρμενίαν μείζονα, ἧς Ῥωμαῖοι οὐκ ἄρχουσι μὲν ἐς φόρου κομιδήν, αὐτοὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀποδεικνύουσι τοὺς βασιλέας.

ἀπὸ δὲ Καππαδοκῶν καὶ Κιλίκων ἐς τὴν Ἰωνίαν καταβαίνοντι ἔστιν ἡ μεγάλη χερρόνησος· ὅ τε 〈γὰρ〉 πόντος ὁ Εὔξεινος καὶ ἡ Προποντὶς καὶ ὁ Ἑλλήσποντος ἐπὶ δεξιά, [καὶ τὸ Αἰγαῖον,] ἐκ δὲ λαιᾶς τὸ Παμφύλιον ἢ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος (λέγεται γὰρ ἄμφω) ποιεῖ χερρόνησον, καὶ εἰσὶν αὐτῆς οἳ μὲν εἰς τὸ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος ἀφορῶντες, Πάμφυλοί τε καὶ Λύκιοι καὶ μετ’ αὐτοὺς Καρία μέχρι Ἰωνίας, οἳ δ’ ἐπὶ τὸν Εὔξεινον καὶ τὴν Προποντίδα καὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, Γαλάται τε καὶ Βιθυνοὶ καὶ Μυσοὶ καὶ Φρύγες, ἐν δὲ μεσογαίῳ Πισίδαι τε καὶ Λυδοί.

τοσαῦτα ἔθνη τὴν χερρόνησον οἰκοῦσιν, καὶ πάντων ἄρχουσι Ῥωμαῖοι.

περάσαντες δὲ καὶ ἑτέρων ἐθνῶν ἄρχουσιν ἀμφὶ τὸν Πόντον καὶ Μυσῶν τῶν ἐν Εὐρώπῃ καὶ Θρᾳκῶν ὅσοι περὶ τὸν Εὔξεινον.

ἀπὸ δὲ

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Preface

p. 5

of Arabia. The Phœnicians hold the country next to Palestine on the sea, and beyond the Phœnician territory are Cœle-Syria, and the parts stretching from the sea as far inland as the river Euphrates, namely Palmyra and the sandy country round about, extending even to the Euphrates itself. The Cilicians come next to the Syrians, and their neighbors are the Cappadocians, and that part of the Armenian country called Lesser Armenia. Along the Euxine are other nations called by the common name Pontic, subject to the Roman rule. The Syrians and Cilicians border on the Mediterranean, the Armenians and Cappadocians extend to the Pontic nations and to the interior as far as Greater Armenia, which is not subject to the Romans in the way of tribute, but its people appoint their own kings. Descending from Cilicia and Cappadocia to Ionia we find the great peninsula bounded on the right by the Euxine, the Propontis, the Hellespont, and the Aegean, and on the left by the Pamphylian or Egyptian sea, for it is called by both names. Some of the countries embraced in it look toward the Egyptian sea, namely: Pamphylia and Lycia and after them Caria extending to Ionia. Others look toward the Euxine, the Propontis, and the Hellespont, namely: the Galatians, Bithynians, Mysians, and Phrygians. In the interior are the Pisidians and Lydians. So many nations inhabit this peninsula and all are under Roman rule.

Crossing from these coasts they rule other nations around the Euixine, the Mysians of Europe and the Thracians who border that sea. Beyond

About This Reading Edition

Appian’s Roman History asked readers of the Roman Empire to reckon with how conquest, ambition, and civil conflict created their world; its questions about political power, cultural encounter, civic division, and the human cost of expansion remain urgent today. This approximately page-aligned parallel-text edition pairs the Ancient Greek text with Horace White’s English translation, following the 1912 facing leaves while omitting translator’s notes, figures, fragment attributions, marginalia, and unnumbered appendices.

Historical Text and Translation

Appian, a Greek-speaking Roman historian from Alexandria, wrote in the second century CE and arranged Rome’s expansion by the peoples and regions it conquered rather than as one continuous chronology—a strikingly original design. Much of his twenty-four-book work is lost, making the surviving books and fragments especially valuable.

About Horace White

Horace White was an American journalist, editor, and financial writer rather than a university professor. He led the Chicago Tribune and later the New York Evening Post, yet his Greek scholarship produced the fluent two-volume Appian translation of 1899 that became the English text of the original Loeb edition in 1912.

Rights

Appian’s ancient work, Ludwig Mendelssohn’s 1879 Greek edition, Horace White’s 1899/1912 English translation, and the Eulogikon Greek Preface are in the public domain in the United States. The Perseus digital transcriptions are reused under CC BY-SA 4.0; their attribution and share-alike terms continue to apply.