APPIAN, an eminent writer of Roman history in Greek under the reigns of Trajan and Adrian. He was a native of Alexandria in Egypt, whence he went to Rome, where he became a distinguished advocate, and was chosen one of the procurators of the empire. He did not treat of the history of the Roman empire as a whole, but gave separate accounts of the various provinces as they were attached to the empire. Of his voluminous work there remains only what treats of the Punic, Syrian, Mithridatic, and Spanish wars, with those against Hannibal, the civil wars, and the wars in Illyricum, and some fragments of the Celtic and Gallic wars,—in all about one-half of the original twenty-two books. An excellent edition of Appian was published by Schweighäuser at Leipsic, in 1785, 3 vols. 8vo, in which the extracts from the lost books are collected. The best edition of the text is that of Bekker, 1853.

APPIANI, Andrea, the best fresco painter of his age, born at Milan in 1754, died in 1817. He was made pensioned artist to the kingdom of Italy by Napoleon; but having lost his allowance after the events of 1814, he fell into poverty. Correggio was his model, and his best pieces, which are in the church of the Virgin and the royal palace of Milan, almost rival those of his great master. He is also said to have painted Napoleon and the chief personages of his court. Among the most graceful of his oil paintings are his “Venus and Love,” and “Orlando in the garden of Armida.”