Arrian was born in Nicomedia (present-day İzmit), the provincial capital of Bithynia. Dio called him Flavius Arrianus Nicomediansis. In respect of his birth date, sources provide similar dates for his birth; within a few years prior to 90, 89, and 85–90 AD. The line of reasoning for dates belonging to 85-90 AD is from the fact of Arrian being made a consul around 130 AD, and the usual age for this, during this period, being forty-two years of age. (ref. p. 312, & SYME 1958, "same page"). His family was from the Greek provincial aristocracy, and his full name, "L. Flavius Arrianus", indicates that he was a Roman citizen, suggesting that the citizenship went back several generations, probably to the time of the Roman conquest some 170 years before.