Appian historian biography of william hamilton

Sir William Hamilton was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist.

He was born c. After holding the senior offices in the province of Aegyptus Egypt , he went to Rome c. Because the position of procurator was open only to members of the equestrian order the "knightly" class , his possession of this office tells us about Appian's family background. This work more closely resembles a series of monographs than a connected history.

It gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the Roman Empire , and survives in complete books and considerable fragments.

William Hamilton, a British diplomat, archaeologist, and volcanologist, was born as the fourth son of Lord Archibald Hamilton, the Governor of Jamaica.

The Civil Wars , books 13—17 of the Roman History , concern mainly the end of the Roman Republic and take a conflict-based view and approach to history. Despite the lack of cited sources for his works, these books of the Roman History are the only extant comprehensive description of these momentous decades of Roman history. The other extant work of Appian is his "The Foreign Wars", which includes an ethnographic style history recounting the various military conflicts against a foreign enemy in Roman history, until the time of Appian.

Little is known of the life of Appian of Alexandria. He wrote an autobiography that has been almost completely lost. Since his parents were Roman citizens capable of paying for their son's education, it can be inferred that Appian belonged to the wealthy upper classes. It is believed that Appian moved to Rome in , where he became a lawyer.

In the introduction to his Roman History, he boasts "that he pleaded cases in Rome before the emperors. In the letter of Cornelius Fronto, it is revealed that a request on behalf of Appian to receive the rank of procurator occurred during the co-regency of Marcus Aurelius and his brother Lucius Verus between and Although Appian won this office, it is unclear whether it was a real job or an honorific title.

The only other certain biographical datum is that Appian's Roman History appeared sometime before