Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

' ''Histories'' ( ''Historíai'') were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work was passed down through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. Polybius, a historian from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

city of

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enough ...

in Arcadia, was taken as a hostage to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), and there he began to write an account of the rise of

to a

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

Publication History

Manuscripts

Moore (1965) suggests a stemma whereby some 9 prototype manuscripts preserve the manuscript tradition, the oldest being Vaticanus Gr. 124 (dated A.D. 947).

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

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

became a dominant world power. This period, from 220–167 BC, saw Rome subjugate

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

and gain control over Hellenistic Greece. Books I through V cover the affairs of important states at the time (

Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter *Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

, Hellenistic Greece,

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

) and deal extensively with the First and Second Punic Wars. In Book VI he describes the Roman Constitution and outlines the powers of the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

. The differences between the first set of states, namely,

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and Thebes, and the second set which consists of those of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, Mantinea and

he asserted, on the ground that the states of

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 Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...

, that the two states have on their side the favors of fortune for a time. The view of Polybius on the age of

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

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 Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

, and

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

. The remainder of the ''Histories'' discusses the period in which Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean, from the defeat of

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

in 201 BC to the destruction of

and the Greek city-state of

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

in 146 BC.

Polybius on tyche

Tyche, which means fate or fortune, plays an integral role in Polybius’ understanding of history. Tyche takes on a double meaning in his work. It can mean fortune or happenstance, but tyche was also personified as a goddess according to

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

convention. The exploration of Tyche is also the impetus for Polybius beginning his work, in that he discusses the fortunate events that led to

’s domination of the Mediterranean.

Polybius on government

In Book VI Polybius digresses into an explanation of the Roman

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and he shows it to be mixed. The purpose for this is involved in the Hellenistic nature of the work, particularly his Greek audience. Greeks at this time believed that the strength of a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

is manifested in the strength of its constitution. The mixed constitution was touted as the strongest constitution as it combined Aristotle's three integral types of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and

. Polybius, again in imitation of Aristotle, makes further distinction in the forms of government by including the nefarious counterparts to the ones mentioned above; tyranny,

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...

, and

ochlocracy Mob rule or ochlocracy or mobocracy is a pejorative term describing an oppressive majoritarianism, majoritarian form of government controlled by the common people through the intimidation of authorities. Ochlocracy is distinguished from democr ...

. These governments, according to Polybius, cycle in a process called anacyclosis or 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 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.

References

Bibliography

Editions of the ''Histories''

* Polybius; Frank W. Walbank, Ian Scott-Kilvert (1979). ''The Rise of the Roman Empire''. Penguin Classics. . * Polybius; Robin Waterfield (2010). ''The Histories''. Oxford World's Classics. . *Loeb Classical Library **Polybius. The Histories, Volume I: Books 1-2. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 128. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. **Polybius. The Histories, Volume II: Books 3-4. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 137. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. **Polybius. The Histories, Volume III: Books 5-8. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 138. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. **Polybius. The Histories, Volume IV: Books 9-15. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 159. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. **Polybius. The Histories, Volume V: Books 16-27. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 160. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012. **Polybius. The Histories, Volume VI: Books 28-39. Fragments. Edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson. Translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by F. W. Walbank, Christian Habicht. Loeb Classical Library 161. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL161/2012/volume.xml

Modern works

* *

Mogens Herman Hansen Mogens Herman Hansen FBA (20 August 1940 – 22 June 2024) was a Danish classical philologist and classical demographer who was one of the leading scholars in Athenian Democracy and the Polis. Life and career Hansen finished his masters at U ...

1995, ''Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium'', August, 24-27 1994, Kgl. Danske, Videnskabernes Selskab, 376 pages * 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

English and Greek version the ''Histories''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Histories Ancient Greek history books 2nd-century BC history books Roman-era Greek historiography Political philosophy in ancient Greece