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Histories

Author	Polybius
Language	Ancient Greek
Genre	History

Polybius'Histories (Ancient Greek:ἹστορίαιHistoríai) 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 theByzantine Empire. Polybius, a historian from theGreek city ofMegalopolis inArcadia, was taken as a hostage toRome after the Roman victory in theThird Macedonian War (171–168 BC), and there he began to write an account of the rise ofRome to agreat power.

Fragments ofHistories are known to exist in various papyri written in duringRoman Egypt. The oldest extant fragments often derive from theFaiyum region or are known to exist in theOxyrhynchus Papyri, such asPapyrus Oxyrhynchus 5268 (Books 28.2.6.1 – 8.1) or P. Ryl. Gr. 1 60 (which covers Books 13.8-16.8).^[1][2]

Moore (1965)^[3] suggests astemma whereby some 9prototype manuscripts preserve themanuscript tradition, the oldest beingVaticanus Gr. 124 (dated A.D. 947).

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 whichAncient Rome became a dominant world power. This period, from 220–167 BC, saw Rome subjugateCarthage and gain control overHellenistic Greece. Books I through V cover the affairs of important states at the time (Ptolemaic Egypt,Hellenistic Greece,Macedon) and deal extensively with the First and SecondPunic Wars. In Book VI he describes theRoman Constitution and outlines the powers of theconsuls,Senate andPeople. The differences between the first set of states, namely,Athens andThebes, and the second set which consists of those ofSparta,Crete,Mantinea andCarthage he asserted, on the ground that the states ofAthens andThebes 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 asThemistocles, and the ThebansPelopidas andEpaminondas, that the two states have on their side the favors of fortune for a time. The view of Polybius on the age ofPericles 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 ademocracy,aristocracy, andmonarchy. The remainder of theHistories discusses the period in which Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean, from the defeat ofHannibal in 201 BC to the destruction ofCarthage and the Greek city-state ofCorinth in 146 BC.

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 toHellenistic convention. The exploration of Tyche is also the impetus for Polybius beginning his work, in that he discusses the fortunate events that led toRome’s domination of the Mediterranean.

In Book VI Polybius digresses into an explanation of the Romanconstitution 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 astate is manifested in the strength of its constitution. The mixed constitution was touted as the strongest constitution as it combinedAristotle's three integral types ofgovernment:monarchy,aristocracy anddemocracy. 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, andochlocracy. These governments, according to Polybius, cycle in a process calledanacyclosis orkyklos, which begins with monarchy and ends with ochlocracy.

The firstEnglish translation, made byChristopher Watson, was published in London in 1568^[6] asThe hystories of the most famous and worthy cronographer Polybius.F. W. Walbank wrote a comprehensive commentary on theHistories in three volumes, which was published between 1957 and 1979.

• Herodotus
• Thucydides
• Xenophon

• Polybius; Frank W. Walbank, Ian Scott-Kilvert (1979).The Rise of the Roman Empire. Penguin Classics.ISBN 0-14-044362-2.^[1]
• Polybius; Robin Waterfield (2010).The Histories. Oxford World's Classics.ISBN 978-0199534708.^[2]
• 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.^[3]
  • 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.^[4]
  • 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.^[5]
  • 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.^[6]
  • 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.^[7]
  • 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.^[8]

• El Hage, Fadi (2023).Une occasion manquée: la réédition de l'Histoire de Polybe commentée par Folard (1753). Paris: Classiques Garnier.ISBN 9782406147817.
• Mogens Herman Hansen 1995,Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium, August, 24-27 1994, Kgl. Danske, Videnskabernes Selskab, 376 pagesISBN 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.

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

The Histories (Polybius)

GreekWikisource has original text related to this article:

Ἱστορίαι

• English and Greek version theHistories
• Translation by W. R. Paton (Loeb edition)
• Short introduction to the life and work of Polybius
• Polybius and the Founding Fathers: the separation of powers

• Ancient Greek history books
• 2nd-century BC history books
• Roman-era Greek historiography
• Political philosophy in ancient Greece

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from November 2013
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text