The Histories (Polybius)
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Arcadia, was taken as a hostage to Rome after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), and there he began to write an account of the rise of Rome to a great power
.
Content
Polybius' Histories begin in the year 264 BC and end in 146 BC (Polybius was born around 200 BC and died around 117 BC). He is primarily concerned with the 53 years in which
Mantinea and Carthage he asserted, on the ground that the states of Athens and Thebes followed an "abnormal" growth. By "abnormal" Polybius means that these states due both the rise to the pinnacle of their power and the downfall to the caprice of fortune. It is chiefly because the Athenians had such leaders as Themistocles, and the Thebans Pelopidas and Epaminondas, that the two states have on their side the favors of fortune for a time. The view of Polybius on the age of Pericles might, to some extent, be considered as contrary to what most modern historians thought was the Golden Age of Greece. He then compares the political system of the Roman state to that of the Cretans, the Spartans, and shows in what aspect the laws of Rome are superior to those of the Carthaginians. He concludes that the success of the Roman state was based on their mixed constitution, which combined elements of a democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. The remainder of the Histories discusses the period in which Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean, from the defeat of Hannibal in 201 BC to the destruction of Carthage and the Greek city-state of Corinth
in 146 BC.
Polybius on tyche
Hellenistic convention. The exploration of Tyche is also the impetus for Polybius beginning his work, in that he discusses the fortunate events that led to Rome
’s domination of the Mediterranean.
Polybius on government
In Book VI Polybius digresses into an explanation of the Roman
kyklos
, which begins with monarchy and ends with ochlocracy.
Polybius in English
The first English translation, made by Christopher Watson, was published in London in 1568[1] as The hystories of the most famous and worthy cronographer Polybius. F. W. Walbank wrote a comprehensive commentary on the Histories in three volumes, which was published between 1957 and 1979.
See also
References
- ISBN 0-14-044362-2.
Bibliography
Editions of The Histories
- Polybius; Frank W. Walbank, Ian Scott-Kilvert (1979). The Rise of the Roman Empire. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044362-2.
Modern works
- El Hage, Fadi (2023). Une occasion manquée: la réédition de l'Histoire de Polybe commentée par Folard (1753). Paris: Classiques Garnier. ISBN 9782406147817.
- ISBN 87-7304-267-6
- Brian McGing, Polybius' Histories. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010.
- Frank William Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius, Oxford University Press, 1957–1979.
- ——, Polybius, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1972.
- ——, Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World, Essays and Reflections, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
External links
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