He lived at Rome, under the emperors
Adrian, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius, and was preferred to the highest
posts of honour, and even to the consulship. In the year A.D. 170, he was
appointed governor of Pontus, by Adrian, for the special purpose of
opposing the Alani, who were invading that part of the empire. His
situation and opportunities as governor, enabled him to derive the most
accurate and particular information respecting the Euxine Sea, which he
addressed in a letter to Adrian; this Periplus, as it is called, "contains
whatever the governor of Pontus had seen, from Trebizond to Dioscurias;
whatever he had heard from Dioscurias to the Danube and whatever he knew
from the Danube to Trebizond."
The letter begins with the arrival of Arrian at Trebizond, at which place,
the artificial port already noticed was then forming. At Trebizond he
embarked, and surveyed the eastern coast of the Euxine Sea, visiting every
where the Roman garrisons. His course led him past the mouth of the Phasis,
the waters of which, he remarks, floated a long time on those of the sea,
by reason of their superior lightness. A strong garrison was stationed at
the mouth of this river, to protect this part of the country against the
Barbarians; he adds, however, in his letter, that the new suburbs which had
been built by the merchants and veterans, required some additional defence,
and that he had, accordingly, for the greater security of the place,
strengthened it with a new ditch: he ended his voyage at Sebastapolis, the
most distant city garrisoned by the Romans.
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