On Arabia

The work on Arabia is attested only by Stephen of Byzantium (Ethnica s.v. Ταηνοί), and the reference is not certain. The manuscripts present three different variants of the name of the author: Οὐλυμπιανός (R), Οὐπιανός (V), and Οὐλπιανός (A, P). The first possibility complies with another passage of Stephen (Ethnica s.v. Δούλων): for this reason, Meineke preferred it (1958: 598). If we consider Ulpianus to be the correct name, we still have to identify him: indeed, the author of local histories is not the only possibility we have. Ulpianus of Samosata was governor of Arabia in 363-364: as Graf (BNJ 676 T1) points out, the Arab tribe of the Ṭayy (= Ταηνοί) became important for the Roman province of Syria exactly in these years. On the other hand, Ulpianus of Emesa wrote other local histories and was a rival of Eusebius of Arabia (see Suda ε 3738): this rivalry may attest his presence in Arabia. It is not possible to demonstrate either of these possibilities.