OPPIAN (Gr. 'Orrtavos), the name of the authors of two (or three) didactic poems in Greek hexameters, formerly identi fied, but now generally regarded as two different persons. (I) Oppian of Corycus (or Anabarzus) in Cilicia, who flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (emperor A.D. 161-180). Accord ing to an anonymous biographer, his father was banished to Malta by Verus. Oppian, who had accompanied his father into exile, returned after the death of Verus (169) and went on a visit to Rome. Here he presented his poems to Aurelius and regained the imperial favour for his family. Oppian subsequently returned to his native country, but died of the plague at the age of 3o. His poem on fishing (Halieutica), of about 3,500 lines, dedicated to Aurelius and his son Commodus, is still extant. (2) Oppian of Apamea (or Pella) in Syria. His extant poem on hunt ing (Cynegetica) is dedicated to the emperor Caracalla, so that it must have been written after 211. It consists of about 2,150
lines, and is divided into four books, the last of which seems incomplete. It is inferior to the Halieutica.
A third poem on bird-catching (Ixeutica, from iE6s, bird-lime), also formerly attributed to an Oppian, is lost ; a paraphrase in Greek prose by a certain Eutecnius is extant.
The chief modern editions are J. G. Schneider (i776) ; F. S. Lehrs (1846) ; U. C. Bussemaker (Scholia, 1849) ; (Cynegetica) P. Boudreaux (1908). The anonymous biography referred to above will be found in A. Westermann's Biographi Graeci (1845). On the subject generally see A. Martin, Etudes sur la vie et les oeuvres d'Oppien de Cilicie (1863) ; A. Ausfeld, De Oppiano et scriptis sub ejus nomine traditis (1876). There are translations of the Halieutica, in English by Diaper and Jones (1722), and in French by E. J. Bourquin (1877).