Appian: Wars of the Romans in Iberia

Appian wrote his Roman History in the second century AD as a series of books arranged geographically to chronicle the rise of the Roman Empire. His Iberike, of which this is the first translation with historical commentary in English, deals with the Romans' wars in the Iberian peninsula from the third to the first centuries BC. It is the only continuous source for much of the history of this crucial period in one of the earliest regions of Rome's imperial expansion, and so fills in the gap made by the loss of Livy's later books. He describes the major campaigns of the conquest from the defeat of the Carthaginians by Scipio Africanus, the wars against the Celtiberians, the war against the Lusitanians under Viriathus and the siege of Numantia. The value of the text is not merely as a chronicle of otherwise obscure events, Appian was an historian who deserves to be studied in his own right. This scholarly edition presents the Greek text with facing-page English translation, accompanied by an introduction, historical commentary and copious notes.

'Richardson has produced an edition which should indeed add impetus to the welcome upsurge of interest in this intriguing period and a writer who, as Richardson puts it, "has more to be said for him than has always been acknowledged". [It] throws a welcome light upon Appian's recurring themes and concerns as a historiographer.'
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2001.08.36

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