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  Appian's Roman History: Empire and Civil War
Edited by: Kathryn Welch
ISBN-9781910589007, hardback, pp xi + 403, 2015,
 

Appian of Alexandria lived in the early-to-mid second century AD, a time when the pax Romana flourished. His Roman History traced, through a series of ethnographic histories, the growth of Roman power throughout Italy and the Mediterranean World. But Appian also told the story of the civil wars which beset Rome from the time of Tiberius Gracchus to the death of Sextus Pompeius Magnus. The standing of his work in modern times is paradoxical. Consigned to the third rank by nineteenth-century historiographers, and poorly served by translators, Appian's Roman History profoundly shapes our knowledge of Republican Rome, its empire and its internal politics. We need to know him better. This book studies both what Appian had to say and how he said it; and engages in a dialogue about the value of Appian's text as a source of history, the relationship between that history and his own times, and the impact on his narrative of the author's own opinions - most notably that Rome enjoyed divinely-ordained good fortune.

Some authors demonstrate that Appian's text (and even his mistakes) can yield significant new information; others re-open the question of Appian's use of source material in the light of recent studies showing him to be far more than a transmitter of other people's work.
 

CONTENTS

'Appian of Alexandria: A Reappraisal’ - Kathryn Welch

'A “very valuable book”: Karl Marx and Appian’ - Andrew G. Bonnell
'Breviarium Totius Imperii: The Background of Appian’s Roman History’ - Josiah Osgood

'Thucydidean Stasis and the Roman Empire in Appian’s Interpretation of History’ - Jonathan J. Price

'Appian, Polybius and the Romans’ War with Antiochus the Great: A study in Appian’s Sources and Methods’ - John Rich

'The Sources for the Civil Wars of Appian of Alexandria’ - Richard Westall

'Appian’s Characterisation of Scipio Aemilianus’ - Fiona Tweedie

'Deceit in Appian’ - Eleanor Cowan

'The Erotics of Appian’ - Luke Pitcher

'Tiberius Gracchus and the Nations of Italy’ - Martin Stone

'Appian and the Judiciary Law of M. Livius Drusus (tr. pl. 91)’ - Kit Morrell

'Appian on the Pharsalus Campaign: Civil Wars 2.48-91’ - Tom Stevenson

'Programme and Narrative in Civil Wars 2.118-4.138’ - Kathryn Welch

'Hortensia Speaks: An Authentic Voice of Resistance?’ - Bronwyn Hopwood

'Epitaphios: Appianos and his Treasured Eutychia θησαυρίζειν τὴν εὐτυχίαν’ - Kai Brodersen
 

BMCR 2016.11.32 .

" ... as a whole the volume testifies amply to Welch’s skill and experience as an editor. The contributions are well selected and there is abundant evidence of cross-fertilization and quality control: typos and errors are few and inconsequential. The index is full and the consolidated bibliography invaluable, although using the latter with endnotes (after every article) is cumbersome. The book is well laid out and pleasingly sturdy. It also contains several excellent maps. It is an altogether exemplary volume. " Adam Kemezis

Classics for All, 10 May 2016.

" This must be one of the most substantial books on Roman republican history to have appeared in the last decade. ... This is a collection of serious and demanding scholarship, produced to a very high standard (the indexes are excellent), and it does not have much to offer to the lay reader. However, its range means that it will have something meaningful to offer to a very diverse audience of classicists." Federico Santagelo,