Arrian (Flavius Arrianus), a Greek philosopher and historian, born in Nicomedia, Bithynia, about A. D. 100. He served under Hadrian and the Antonines, obtained the Roman citizenship, was prefect of Cappadocia, fought successfully there against the Alans, and after holding the consulship retired to Nicomedia about 150, and devoted himself to letters. Being a pupil and friend of the Stoic Epictetus, he published the philosophical lectures and an abstract {Enchiridion) of the practical philosophy of his master, and wrote dialogues, of which only fragments have reached us. He also published works upon history, geography, tactics, and hunting. The best of them is his excellent history of the campaigns of Alexander the Great. The Athenians made him a citizen of Athens under the name of his model in composition, Xenophon, his book being likewise called Anabasis. With this work his Indica is closely connected, in which he describes the Hindoos, their institutions and customs, as they were found by Alexander, He also wrote a history of Bithynia, an account of the circumnavigation of the Black sea ("The Periplus of the Euxine Sea"), "The Order of Battle against the Alans," and other smaller works.