AR 'RLEVNTIS ((k. 'ApsimavOs, .1 rrhianos) ('?-e.180 A.D.). A distinguished historian and a native of Nieomedia, in Bithvnia. Ile was horn near the end of the First Century A.n., of good family, and Illom obtaining the Roman citizen ship• assumed the name Flavins. After eomolet ing his education, he left home. and lived for some time, in the reign of Trojan. at Nicopolis, where he was a devoted pupil of the Stoic phi losopher Epietetus. He won early in life the friendship of Hadrian, and was from time to time honored with marks of the Emperor's favor. While in the public service he traveled much, and became acquainted with a number of lands and peoples. In A.n. 130 he was consul suffeet us, and soon after was made legatus Au gusti pro pnetore of the Province of Cappadocia, an office which lie held for several years. It was at this time that he successfully defended the Province of Cappadocia against an invasion of the Alani. Under Antoninus Pius he obtained the consulship, and in A.D. 147-48 be appears at Athens, where he had obtained the citizenship, as Archon Eponymous. Ile was also at some period of his priest of Demeter (Ceres) in his native town. During the last half of his life, he seems to have kept himself apart from public service and to have devoted himself to letters.
As a writer Arrianus was a close imitator, both in point of subject and in point of style, of Xenophon. Ilis relation to Epietetus was, in his own regard. that of Xenophon to Socrates. and he was known at Athens the "younger Xeno phon." He wrote on philosophical, historical, and military subjects. llis philosophical writ ings all related to Epietetus. The Discourses of Epirt et us I Atarpti3di 'Erikriiroc1in eight books, the first four of which have been preserved, com prised notes taken by Arrianus of his master's lectures, and put in form for publication. So far as possible, the original words of the master were preserved. A Manual of Et hies ('Eyripirfrov 'Errucrirov),together with the commentary of Sim 'dieing on the same, has also come down to us. The eonrersations of Epietetus ('Out1.int 'Erna/Foy), in twelve books, is mentioned, though this work was possibly another form of the Dis courses. The most important historical work of Arrianus is The Anabasis of Alexander the Great. in seven books, which, both in the number of its hooks and in its style. is a reminiscence of Xenophon. The Anabasis not only contains the eampaigns of Alexander in Asia. but is a com plete narrative of the life of the King from the beginning of his reign to the time of his death.
It is an impartial and accurate narrative, based on the most trustworthy authorities. and written in a plain and unadorned style. The two chief authorities used were Ptolemy. son of Lagos, and Aristobulus, both officers in Alexander's army. Besides these, the works of Era tosthenes, Alegasthenes, Nearchus, and others, as well as the letters of Alexander, etc., were drawn upon. The indica ('lvSady) is a geographical work, con taining a description of India. together with an account of the voyage of Xearehus from the In dus to the Euphrates. and is written in the Ionic dialect. The sources were principally Nearchus, Eratosthenes, and Alegasthenes. It was append ed to the .1nabasis, of which it may be regarded as a continuation. The Erents After Alexander, in ten books; The Bithyniaca, in eight. books (containing a history of Bithynia from mythical times to the abdication of the last king, Nico medes III., in im.c. 751, and The Pa•thica, in seventeen books (containing an account of the Parthian War under Trojan), have been lost. Of The Alaniea, a history of the Alumni, only a small extract, called 'Esra;te sae ',12.aci,ne, is pre served. The Periplus of the Euxine Sea is a deseription of a voyage around the Euxine Sea. undertaken by Arrianus in his official capacity as governor of Cappadocia. It was a report made to the Emperor Hadrian, and dates from A.D. 1:30-31. A second Periplus of the Euxine Sea and n Periplus of the Keel Sea, to which the name of Arrianus is attached, are later compositions. A work on tactics, pre served, was based on a work of the same name by _F.lian, which, again, was taken in its main features front Aselepiodotus's work. The Cyne trams is a short treatise on hunting, written as a supplement to Xenophon's work on the same subject. nther works, not preserved, were biographies of Timoleon of Corinth and Dion of Syracuse, and a Life of Tilliborus, a famous robber of Asia :Minor. Editions of the Anabasis are by Krfiger (Berlin, 1848), Sintenis (Berlin, 1867). and Abieht (Leipzig, 1876). There is a translation by Chimmek (Ne• York, 18931. The philosophical works are to be found in Seh•eig hafiser's Epietetea• Philosophiw ilonumenta. 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1799). They have been trans lated by Elizabeth Carter (London, 1758), and by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Boston. 1891). The best critieal edition of Arrianus is that of Diffiner and Midler (Paris, 1841;1.