Appian´s Keltiké: A historical commentary

The objective of the submitted project is to create a historical commentary on Appian`s Keltiké. In this only fragmentarily preserved book, the Alexandrian historian deals with military conflicts between Romans and Celts, beginning with the attack of the Celts under Brennus on Rome until the conquest of Gaul by Caesar. Despite its fragmentary state, the Keltiké is an important and valuable source for the history of the Celts as well as of the Roman Republic, as it offers various information documented nowhere else or significantly different to those traditions attested by other authors (like Polybius, Caesar, Livy, etc.). In all likelihood, Appian has referred to since lost historians for his account. As a result, fragments of texts of pre-Livian annalists and of a source (presumably Asinius Pollio) differing from Caesar`s commentarii de bello Gallico could have been preserved. All the more astonishing is that there is no commentary to the Keltiké so far. This might explain why Appian`s Celtic History is recognized by few experts and is highly neglected even in ancient history research. The aim of the project at hand is to resolve this deficit. The intended book shall be divided into two parts, namely an extensive introduction and the commentary itself. The introduction presents the biography of Appian and his complete writings, as well as the position of the Keltiké within them. Further, specific problems of the secondary tradition (excerpta Constantiniana, Suda) and the question of sources shall be discussed and conjectures about the content of the lost parts of the Keltiké shall be offered. Another chapter shall be dedicated to Appian`s image of the Celts taking into consideration other aspects about the Celts in different parts of the Rhomak. The formal commentary will offers for every individual fragment the Greek text and its German translation. Subsequently, an evaluation of each fragment with consideration of all ancient parallel evidence as well as the modern secondary literature will be made. Each fragment will be discussed in detail with regard to its historic context and with an eye to how it conforms to or varies from literary tradition. This will allow a better determination of position of Appian within the historiographic tradition. The planned commentary fulfils a desideratum of research about Appian and closes a gap in academic work on this author. Research on the Roman Republic as well will benefits from this work as the project at hand makes a little regarded source accessible. Finally, the commentary is of essential importance for scientific work concerning the history and culture of the ancient Celts. In particular Celtic studies have hardly recognised Appian`s Keltiké, although this text constitutes a valuable addition to more familiar texts.

The objective of the project was to create a historical commentary on Appians Keltiké. In this only fragmentarily preserved book, the Alexandrian historian deals with military conflicts between Romans and Celts, beginning with the attack of the Celts under Brennus on Rome until the conquest of Gaul by Caesar. Despite its fragmentary state, the Keltiké is an important and valuable source for the history of the Celts as well as of the Roman Republic, as it offers various information documented nowhere else or significantly different to those traditions handed down by other authors (like Polybius, Livy, Caesar, etc.). Appian has evidently referred to since lost historians for his account. As a result, fragments of texts of pre-Livian annalists and of Asinius Pollios account of Caesars Gallic War could have been preserved. All the more astonishing is that Appians Celtic History is recognized by few experts and is highly neglected even in ancient history research. This deficit shall be resolved by the commentary which at present is nearby finished and will be published in 2014. It contains an introduction presenting the biography of Appian and his complete writings, as well as the position of the Keltiké within them and the formal commentary which is structured as follows: First, the Greek text and a self-composed German translation of each fragment is given, attempting to produce as precise a translation as possible, reflecting the linguistic usage of Appian. Subsequently, an evaluation of each fragment with consideration of all ancient parallel evidence, as well as the extensive modern secondary literature, is made. The question of sources and the historic context of each individual fragment is treated in detail. Further, similarities to and deviations from other literary tradition are elaborated on in order to determine Appians position within the historiographic traditions. The commentary is more than just a synthesis of earlier research positions. In numerous issues it was possible to exceed the already existing state of knowledge and to correct popular fallacies. Particularly, the consistent observation of the methodological principle that when dealing with fragmentarily preserved works, not only the text of the fragments, but also the peculiarities of the excerptors (the so-called cover-text) have to be considered, has proven to be a helpful approach and has contributed to a far better understanding of these fragments. For some of them, completely new interpretations were suggested, e.g. for Celt. F10 concerning the famous duel of Valerius Corvus, or for Celt. F14 referring to the battle of Vercellae. Another important and innovative project result is the number of observations which were made on the content of the lost parts of the Keltiké.