Arrian

Arrian, FLAVIUS, a native of Nicomedia, in Bithynia, born about 100 A.D. A disciple and friend of Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher, he was admitted to the citizenship in Athens, and in 124 A.D. to that of Rome at the hands of the Emperor Hadrian. He was appointed prefect of Cappadocia in the year 136, and under Antoninus Pius, the successor of Hadrian, he was promoted to the consulship. But some four years afterwards, he appears to have retired from public life, and devoted himself to literature in his native place, where he died at an advanced age in the reign of Aurelius. As the pupil and friend of Epictetus, he edited the Manual of Ethics (Enchiridion) left by his master, and wrote the lectures of Epictetus (Diatribæ) in eight books, of which only four have been preserved. The most important work by Arrian is the Anabasis Alexandrou, or history of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, which has come down to us almost entire. This book is our chief authority on the subject of which it treats, and is a work of great value. Arrian had chosen Xenophon as his model of composition, and hence the Athenians called him the young Xenophon. In close connection with his former history, Arrian wrote his Indian History, giving an account of the people of India. Other writings by Arrian, his letter to Hadrian on a voyage round the coasts of the Euxine Sea, and another, a voyage round the coasts of the Red Sea, are valuable with regard to ancient geography. The best edition of Arrian's Anabasis is that by Krüger (1848); Eng. trans. by Chinnock (1884).