À chacun son Arrien ? Observations sur la carrière et la trajectoire d'Arrien dans l'Orient romain d'époque antonine

Abstract

Arrian, considered as a major figure of the Roman East during the Antonines’ reign, has inspired a large number of studies since the 1970’s. This bibliographical stream has led, in a paradoxical manner, to a compartimentalised and fragmented vision of him, because it was shared by classicists of various approaches and specialities, some of them historians, some others philosophers or philologists. The present contribution aims at bringing together these various points of view, through a differentiated display of the career and life of Arrian in the Roman East of the 2nd-century AD. Instead of opposing two artificial and stereotypical views (Greek vs Roman, man of letters vs man of action), we may deem more appropriate to insert the information we have into a set of precise contexts and geographic analyses. Otherwise, any historical perspective on Arrian is condemned to merge into what Tim Whitmarsh called “the umbrella category of the Greeks”.