The details of Arrian's life (c.90AD] are uncertain, though the shape of it indicates a man of wide and varied talents. He was governor to the Emperor Hadrian, the author of a number of works of non-fiction and an Athenian citizen. In 145 he rose tobecome a chief magistrate of Athens and thereby part of the governing body of the city. His date of death is not known. De Selincourt was an acclaimed translator of ancient classics.