Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia ( ; ; AD 86 – c . 160 ) was a Roman ( ethnic Greek ) historian , public servant , military commander and philosopher of the 2nd - century Roman period . As with other authors of the Second Sophistic , Arrian wrote primarily in Attic ( " Indica " is in Herodotus ' Ionic dialect , his philosophical works in Koine Greek ) . The " Anabasis of Alexander " is perhaps his best - known work , and is generally considered one of the best sources for the campaigns of Alexander the Great . ( It is not to be confused with " Anabasis " , the best - known work of the Athenian military leader and author Xenophon from the 5th - 4th century BC . ) Arrian is also considered as one of the founders of a primarily military - based focus on history . His other works include " Discourses of Epictetus " and " Indica " . Arrian ' s life . Arrian was born of Greek ethnicity in the coastal town of Nicomedia ( present - day Izmit ) , the capital of the Roman province of Bithynia , in what is now north - western Turkey , about 70 km from Byzantium ( later Constantinople , now Istanbul ) . He studied philosophy in Nicopolis in Epirus , under the Stoic philosopher Epictetus , and wrote two books about the philosopher ' s teachings . At the same time he entered the Imperial service , and served as a junior adviser on the " consilium " of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus , governor of Achaea and a close friend of the future Emperor Hadrian , around 111 - 114 . Very little is known about his subsequent career - though it is probable that he served in Gaul and on the Danube frontier , and possible that he was in Baetica and Parthia - until he held the office of Consul in 129 or 130 . In 131 he was appointed governor of the Black Sea province of Cappadocia and commander of the Roman legions on the frontier with Armenia . It was unusual at this time for a Greek to hold such high military command . In 135 , Cappadocia was threatened by an Alan invasion . Arrian later wrote a military treatise called " Ektaxis kata Alanōn " , which detailed the battle against the Alans , and the " Technē Taktikē " in which he described how he would organise the legions and auxiliary troops at his disposal , among which legions XII " Fulminata " and XV " Apollinaris " . He deployed the legionaries in depth supported by javelin throwers , archers , and horse archers in the rear ranks to defeat the assault of the Alan cavalry using these combined arms tactics . However , Arrian ' s work may have been entirely hypothetical , because there is no historical record of a battle between Romans and Alans that year . During this period Arrian wrote several works on military tactics , including " Ektaxis kata Alanōn " . He also wrote a short account of a tour of inspection of the Black Sea coast in the traditional ' periplus ' form ( in Greek ) addressed to the Emperor Hadrian , the " Periplus Ponti Euxini " or " Circumnavigation of the Black Sea " . Arrian left Cappadocia shortly before the death of his patron Hadrian , in 138 , and there is no evidence for any further public appointments until 145 / 6 when he was elected Archon at Athens , once the city ' s leading political post but by this time an honorary one . It was here that he devoted himself to history , writing his most important work , the " Anabasis Alexandri " or " The Campaigns of Alexander " . He also wrote the " Indica " , an account of the voyage by Alexander ' s fleet from India to the Persian Gulf under Nearchus . He also wrote a political history of the Greek world after Alexander , most of which is lost . It is not known when Arrian died . Works . The " Anabasis of Alexander " . Arrian is an important historian because his work on Alexander is the widest read , and arguably the most complete , account of the Macedonian conqueror . Arrian was able to use sources which are now mostly lost , such as the contemporary works by Callisthenes ( the nephew of Alexander ' s tutor Aristotle ) , Onesicritus , Nearchus and Aristobulus . Most important of all , Arrian had the biography of Alexander by Ptolemy , one of Alexander ' s leading generals and friend from childhood until Alexander ' s death . Criticism . Arrian says that Alexander ' s greatness is worthy of praise and glory , and should be known by future generations . It seems that he wanted to make Alexander ' s life a legend — which it is today — through his book . Not all historians agree with this goal . A . B . Bosworth , an expert on Greek history , criticized what he viewed as Arrian ' s hagiography in ' Errors in Arrian ' ( 1976 ) Bosworth , in line with the epigraphic tradition of modern classical studies , points out that Arrian is a secondary source of Alexander ' s biographical data : " Arrian is prone to misread and misinterpret his primary sources , and the smooth flow of his narrative can obscure treacherous quicksands of error " . One of his principal sources , Ptolemy , was an interested party . Bosworth writes that " not only has it been virtually disproved that Ptolemy constructed his history from archival material , but it appears that he inserted his own propaganda to exaggerate his personal achievements under Alexander and to discredit those of his rivals " . Bosworth alleges that " Arrian was prone to the errors of misunderstanding and faulty source conflation that one would expect in a secondary historian of antiquity " . Bosworth further points out that " Arrian makes it quite plain that his work is designed as a literary showpiece . Alexander ' s achievements , he says , have never been adequately commemorated in prose or verse . The field is therefore open for him to do for the Macedonian king what Pindar had done for the Deinomenid tyrants and Xenophon for the march of the Ten Thousand " . Bosworth states that " Arrian has in mind Thucydides ' famous strictures of histories of the " pentekontaetia " , on which the passage is patently modelled " . The charge is that Arrian has written a panegyric rather than a work of serious history . Response . Alexander was a controversial figure in antiquity , as he is today . A favorable biography of him was thus bound to be controversial from the start . In response to criticism , Arrian had this to say about his work : " No matter who I am that make this claim . I need not declare my name - though it is by no mean unheard of in the world ; I need not specify my country and family , or any official position I may have held . Rather let me say this : that this book of mine is , and has been from my youth , more precious than country and kin and public advancement - indeed , for me it " is " these things . " Language and style . At the time of Arrian ' s daily life , the " koine " , or " common Greek " of the Hellenistic and Roman periods was in universal spoken use . As a writer , Arrian was obliged by the prevailing literary mores of his time to compose his works in " good Greek , " which meant imitating as closely as possible the grammar and literary style of the Athenian writers of the 5th century BC . In Arrian ' s case this meant following the Attic style of Xenophon and Thucydides . His account of India , the " Indica " , was written in an equally wooden imitation of the language of Herodotus . The result is a work which was inevitably stilted and artificial , although Arrian handled the strain of writing 500 - year - old Greek better than some of his contemporaries . Xenophon was a good model of clear and unpretentious prose , which Arrian was wise to follow . He considered his Cynegeticon , ( " On Hunting " ) , as an addition to the work of the same name by Xenophon . Modern historians may regret that so many of the earlier works on Alexander have been lost , but may of them are grateful to Arrian for preserving so much . ( citations ? ) Conclusion . The scholarly consensus is that Arrian ' s work is to a considerable extent a reworking of Ptolemy ; albeit with material from other writers , particularly Aristobulus , brought in where Arrian thought them useful . Ptolemy was a general , and Arrian relied on him as a professional of military science and hence for details of Alexander ' s battles , on which Ptolemy was certainly well informed . Details of geography and natural history were taken from Aristobulus , although Arrian himself had a wide knowledge of Anatolia and other eastern regions . Today more interest focuses on Alexander as a man and as a political leader , and here Arrian ' s sources are less clear and his reliability more questionable . Probably it was not possible for Arrian to recover an accurate picture of Alexander ' s personality 400 years after his death , when most of his sources were partisan in one way or another . Aristobulus , for example , was known as " kolax " ( κόλαξ ) , the flatterer , while other sources were hostile or had political agendas . Arrian was in any case primarily a military historian , and here he followed his great model ( from whom he earned his nickname ) , the terse and narrowly - focused soldier - historian Xenophon . He has little to say about Alexander ' s personal life , his role in Greek politics or the reasons why the campaign against Persia was launched in the first place . More than 1800 years later , Mary Renault , an admirer of both Alexander and Arrian , wrote an acclaimed biography of Alexander , " The Nature of Alexander , " drawing heavily on Arrian ' s work , as well as the few other sources which are still extant . Renault ' s work focuses on Alexander ' s character , motivations , strengths and weaknesses . With its similar title and prominent mention of Arrian in the preface , it may have been intended as a sequel to Arrian ' s " The Campaigns of Alexander , " or simply to fill in the gaps in his account . Nevertheless , Arrian ' s work gives a reasonably full account of Alexander ' s life during the campaign , and in his personal assessment of Alexander he steers a judicious course between flattery and condemnation . He concedes Alexander ' s emotionality , vanity , and weakness for drink , but acquits him of the grosser crimes some writers accused him of . But he does not discuss Alexander ' s wider political views or other aspects of his life that the modern reader would like to know more about . ( citations ? ) Other works . Arrian ' s other works preserve the philosophy of Epictetus in " Discourses of Epictetus " ( c . 108 AD ) , and include the " Indica " a description of Nearchus ' voyage from India following Alexander ' s conquest , and other short works .