Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/265

Rh pears from Polybius (v. 5G, /iS), he possessed considerable influence. Mead, in his Dissert, de jV«7«)nw quibusdam a Smymaeis in Afedicorum Honorem percussis^ Lond. 1724, 4to., thinks that two bronze coins, struck in honour of a person named Apollophanes, refer to the physician of this name ; but this is now generally considered to be a mistake. (See Diet, of Ant. s. v. Mediais.) A physician of the same name is mentioned by several ancient medical writers. (Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 76, ed. vet. ; C. G. Klihn, Additam. ad Eletichum Mcdicorum Veteruin a Jo. A. Fabri- cio, ^Cj ejchibitum. Lips. 4to., 1826. Fascic. iii. p. 8.) [W. A. G.]

APOLLO'THEMIS CArroWSeefiis), a Greek historian, whom Plutarch made use of in his life of Lycurgus. (c. 31.)

'APOMYIUS i'Air6/xvios) "driving away the flies," a surname of Zeus at Olympia. On one occasion, when Heracles was offering a sacrifice to Zeus at Olympia, he was annoyed by hosts of flies, and in order to get rid of them, he offered a sacrifice to Zeus Apomyius, whereupon the flies withdrew across the river Alpheius. From that time the Eleans sacrificed to Zeus under this name. (Paus. V. 14. § 2.) [L.S.]

APONIA'NUS, DI'LLIUS, joined Antonius Primus with the third legion, a. d. 70. (Tac. Hist. iii. 10, 11.)

Q. APO'NIUS, was one of the commanders of the troops which revolted, in b. c. 46, from Trebonius, Caesar's lieutenant in Spain. (Dion Cass, xliii. 29.) Aponius was proscribed by the triumvirs in B.c.43, and put to death. (Appian, B. C. iv. 26.) APO'NIUS MU'TILUS. [Mutilus.]

APO'NIUS SATURNI'NUS. [Saturninus.]

APOTROPAEI ('ATTOTpdirajoi), certain divini- ties, by whose assistance the Greeks believed that they were able to avert any threatening danger or calamity. Their statues stood at Sicyon near the tomb of Epopeus. (Paus. ii. 11. § 2.) The Romans likewise worshipped gods of this kind, and called them dii averrunci, derived from averruncare. (Varro, de L. L. vii. 102; GeUius, v. 12.) [L. S.]

APOTRO'PHIA {'AiroTpoipla), "the expeller," a surname of Aphrodite, under which she was worshipped at Thebes, and which described her as the goddess who expelled from the hearts of men the desire after sinful pleasure and lust. Her worship under this name was believed to have been instituted by Harmonia, together with that of Aphrodite Urania and Pandenios, and the anti- quity of her statues confirmed this belief. (Paus. ix. 16. § 2.) ^ [L. S.]

APPIA'NUS {^A-mriavSs)^ a native of Alexan- dria, lived at Rome during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, as we gather from various passages in his work. We have hardly any particulars of his life, for his autobiography, to which he refers at the end of the preface to his history, is now lost. In the same passage he men- tions, that he was a man of considerable distinction at Alexandria, and afterwards removed to Rome, where he was engaged in pleading causes in the courts of the emperors. He further states, that the emperors considered him worthy to be entrusted with the management of their affairs (m^XP* M* fftpcav fTTiTpotrevdv rj^lwcray); which Schweighauser and others interpret to mean, that he was appointed to the office of procurator or praefcctus of Egypt. There is, however, no reason for this supposition.

We know, from a letter of Fronto, that it was the office of procurator which he held (Fronto, Ep. ad Anton. Pium 9, p. 13, &c., ed. Niebuhr); but whether he had the management of the emperor's finances at Rome, or went to some province in this capacity, is quite uncertain.

Appian wrote a Roman history ('Pw/xoZkcI, or 'Pw/uot/o) Icrropla) in twenty-four books, on a plan different from that of most historians. He did not treat the history of the Roman empire as a whole in chronological order, following the series of events; but he gave a separate account of the affairs of each country from the time that it became connected with the Romans, till it was finally incorporated in the Roman empire. The first foreign people with whom the Romans came in contact were the Gauls; and consequently his history, according to his plan, would have begun with that people. But in order to make the work a complete history of Rome, he devoted the first three books to an account of the early times and of the various nations of Italy which Rome subdued. The subjects of the different books were : 1 . The kingly period ('Pft»/Liat/c<5»' /SatrtAtio}). 2. Italy ('iToAi/of). 3. The Samnites (SawtTtjof). 4. The Gauls or Celts (KeATt/cTf). 5. Sicily and the other islands (2iK6At/o) Kol Ntjo-jwtiktJ). 6. Spain {'l§r)piic^). 7. Hannibal's wars ('ApviScukt^). 8. Libya, Car- thage, and Numidia (AiSvid), Kapxv^ovncfj koL NofwSiKri). 9. Macedonia {MoKfSoviicn). 10. Greece and the Greek states in Asia Minor ('EXAt^ viKij Koi 'luviKT^). 11. Syria and Parthia (Suptooo^ Koi UapdiK-^). 12. The war with Mithridates (M(0ptSc£T6tos). 13 — 21. The civil wars {'Ep-cpv- Ato), in nine books, from those of Marius and Sidla to the battle of Actium. The last four books also had the title of to AlyvTrrioKcL. 22. 'Enaroy- ToeTfo, comprised the histoiy of a hundred years, from the battle of Actium to the beginning of Vespasian's reign. 23. The wars with lUyria ('lAAwpjK?} or AttKi/of). 24. Those with Arabia ('Apo&toy). We possess only eleven of these com- plete ; namely, the sixth, seventh, eighth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and twenty-third. There are also fragments of several of the others. The Parthian history'-, which has come down to us as part of the eleventh book, has been proved by Schweighauser to be no work of Appian, but merely a compilation from Plutarch's Lives of Antony and Crassus, pro- bably made in the middle ages. (See Schweighau- ser 's Appian^ vol. iii. p. 905, &c.)

Appian's work is a mere compilation. In the early times he chiefly followed Dionysius, as far as the latter went, and his work makes up to a considerable extent for the books of Dionysius, which are lost. In the history of the second Punic war Fabius seems to have been his chief authority, and subsequently he made use of Polybius. His style is clear and simple; but he possesses few merits as an historian, and he frequently makes the most absurd blunders. Thus, for instance, he places Saguntum on the north of the Iberus {Jber. 7), and states that it takes only half a day to sail from Spain to Britain. {Iber. 1.)

Appian's history was first published in a barbarous Latin translation by Candidus, at Venice, in 1472. A part of the Greek text was first published by Carolus Stephanus, Paris, 1551; which was followed by an improved Latin version by Gelenius, which was published after the death of