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 IBook VI · Sections 1–3

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Book VI · Sections 1–3

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Ancient Greek

p. 142

ἀριθμοῦσι, καὶ ἔστιν αὐτῇ τὸ πλάτος ἀντὶ μήκους. ἔθνη τε πολλὰ καὶ πολυώνυμα αὐτὴν οἰκεῖ, καὶ ποταμοὶ πολλοὶ ῥέουσι ναυσίποροι.

οἵ τινες δʼ αὐτὴν οἰκῆσαι πρῶτοι νομίζονται, καὶ οἳ μετʼ ἐκείνους κατέσχον, οὐ πάνυ μοι ταῦτα φροντίζειν ἀρέσκει, μόνα τὰ Ῥωμαίων συγγράφοντι, πλὴν ὅτι Κελτοί μοι δοκοῦσί ποτε, τὴν Πυρήνην ὑπερβάντες, αὐτοῖς συνοικῆσαι, ὅθεν ἄρα καὶ τὸ Κελτιβήρων ὄνομα ἐρρύη. δοκοῦσι δέ μοι καὶ Φοίνικες, ἐς Ἰβηρίαν ἐκ πολλοῦ θαμινὰ ἐπʼ ἐμπορίᾳ διαπλέοντες, οἰκῆσαί τινα τῆς Ἰβηρίας, Ἕλληνές τε ὁμοίως, ἐς Ταρτησσὸν καὶ Ἀργανθώνιον Ταρτησσοῦ βασιλέα πλέοντες, ἐμμεῖναι καὶ τῶνδέ τινες ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ· ἡ γὰρ Ἀργανθωνίου βασιλεία ἐν Ἴβηρσιν ἦν. καὶ Ταρτησσός μοι δοκεῖ τότε εἶναι πόλις ἐπὶ θαλάσσης, ἣ νῦν Καρπησσὸς ὀνομάζεται. τό τε τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν στήλαις Φοίνικές μοι δοκοῦσιν ἱδρύσασθαι· καὶ θρησκεύεται νῦν ἔτι φοινικικῶς, ὅ τε θεὸς αὐτοῖς οὐχ ὁ Θηβαῖός ἐστιν ἀλλʼ ὁ Τυρίων. ταῦτα μὲν δὴ τοῖς παλαιολογοῦσι μεθείσθω.

τὴν δὲ γῆν τήνδε εὐδαίμονα οὖσαν καὶ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν γέμουσαν Καρχηδόνιοι πρὸ Ῥωμαίων ἤρξαντο πολυπραγμονεῖν, καὶ μέρος αὐτῆς τὸ μὲν εἶχον ἤδη, τὸ δʼ ἐπόρθουν, μέχρι Ῥωμαῖοι σφᾶς ἐκβαλόντες, ἃ μὲν εἶχον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι τῆς Ἰβηρίας, ἔσχον αὐτίκα, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ σὺν χρόνῳ πολλῷ καὶ πόνῳ λαμβανόμενά τε ὑπὸ σφῶν καὶ πολλάκις ἀφιστάμενα χειρωσάμενοι διεῖλον ἐς τρία, καὶ στρατηγοὺς ἐς αὐτὰ πέμπουσι τρεῖς. ὅπως δʼ εἷλον ἕκαστα, καὶ ὅπως Καρχηδονίοις τε περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ μετὰ Καρχηδονίους Ἴβηρσι

Appian’s Roman History, Volume I: Book VI

p. 143

is equal to its breadth. Many nations of various names inhabit it, and many navigable rivers flow through it.

What nations occupied it first, and who came after them, it is not very important for me to inquire, in writing merely Roman history. However, I think that the Celts, passing over the Pyrenees at some former time, mingled with the natives, and that the name Celtiberia originated in that way. I think also that from an early time the Phœnicians frequented Spain for purposes of trade, and occupied certain places there. In like manner the Greeks visited Tartessus and its king Arganthonius, and some of them settled in Spain; for the kingdom of Arganthonius was in Spain. It is my opinion that Tartessus was then the city on the seashore which is now called Carpessus. I think also that the Phoenicians built the temple of Hercules which stands at the straits. The religious rites performed there are still of Phoenician type, and the god is considered by the worshippers the Tyrian, not the Theban, Hercules. But I will leave these matters to the antiquaries.

This fruitful land, abounding in all good things, the Carthaginians began to exploit before the Romans. A part of it they occupied and another part they plundered, until the Romans expelled them from the part they held, and immediately occupied it themselves. The remainder the Romans acquired with much toil, extending over a long period of time, and in spite of frequent revolts they eventually subdued it and divided it into three parts and appointed a praetor over each. How they subdued each one, and how they contended with the Carthaginians for the possession of them, and afterwards with the Iberians and Celtiberians, this book

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.