Polybius'sHistories is important not only for being the only Hellenistic historical work to survive in any substantial form, but also for its analysis of constitutional change and the mixed constitution. Polybius's discussion of theseparation of powers in government, of checks and balances to limit power, and his introduction of "the people", all influencedMontesquieu'sThe Spirit of the Laws,John Locke'sTwo Treatises of Government, and the framers of theUnited States Constitution.[2]
The leading expert on Polybius for nearly a century wasF. W. Walbank (1909–2008), who published studies related to him for 50 years, including a long commentary of hisHistories and a biography.[3]
Polybius was a close friend and mentor toScipio Aemilianus (also called Scipio Africanus the Younger), and had a lasting influence on his decision-making and life.
Polybius was born around 198 BC inMegalopolis,Arcadia,[4] when it was an active member of theAchaean League. The town was revived, along with other Achaean states, a century before he was born.[5]
Polybius's father,Lycortas, was a prominent, land-owning politician and member of the governing class who becamestrategos (commanding general) of the Achaean League.[6] Consequently, Polybius was able to observe first hand during his first 30 years the political and military affairs of Megalopolis, gaining experience as astatesman.[4] In his early years, he accompanied his father while travelling asambassador.[7] He developed an interest in horse riding and hunting, diversions that later commended him to his Roman captors.
In 182 BC, he was given the honour of carrying the funeral urn ofPhilopoemen, one of the most eminent Achaean politicians of his generation. In either 170 BC or 169 BC, Polybius was electedhipparchus (cavalry officer) and was due to assist Rome militarily during theThird Macedonian War, although this never came about.[7] This office was the second highest position of the Achaean League and often presaged election to the annualstrategia (chief generalship). Polybius's political career was cut short in 168 BC, however; as a consequence of the final defeat of theAntigonid kingdom in theThird Macedonian War, 1,000 Achaeans (including Polybius) with suspect allegiances were interned in Rome and its surrounding area.
Polybius's father, Lycortas, was a prominent advocate of neutrality during the Roman war againstPerseus ofMacedon in 171-168 BC. Lycortas attracted the suspicion of the Romans, and Polybius subsequently was one of the 1,000Achaean nobles who were transported to Rome as hostages in 167 BC, and was detained there for 17 years. In Rome, by virtue of his high culture, Polybius was admitted to the most distinguished houses, in particular to that ofLucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the conqueror in theThird Macedonian War, who entrusted Polybius with the education of his sons, Fabius andScipio Aemilianus (who had been adopted by the eldest son ofScipio Africanus). Polybius remained on cordial terms with his former pupil Scipio Aemilianus and was among the members of theScipionic Circle.
When Scipio defeated theCarthaginians in theThird Punic War, Polybius remained his counsellor. The Achaean hostages were released in 150 BC, and Polybius was granted leave to return home, but the next year he went on campaign with Scipio Aemilianus to Africa, and was present at theSack of Carthage in 146, which he later described. Following the destruction of Carthage, Polybius likely journeyed along the Atlantic coast of Africa, as well as Spain.
After thedestruction of Corinth in the same year, Polybius returned to Greece, making use of his Roman connections to lighten the conditions there. Polybius was charged with the difficult task of organizing the new form of government in the Greek cities, and in this office he gained great recognition.
In the succeeding years, Polybius resided inRome, completing his historical work while occasionally undertaking long journeys through theMediterranean countries in the furtherance of his history, in particular with the aim of obtaining firsthand knowledge of historical sites. He apparently interviewed veterans to clarify details of the events he was recording and was similarly given access to archival material. Little is known of Polybius's later life; he most likely accompanied Scipio to Spain, acting as his military advisor during theNumantine War.
He later wrote about this war in a lostmonograph. Polybius probably returned to Greece later in his life, as evidenced by the many existent inscriptions and statues of him there. The last event mentioned in hisHistories seems to be the construction of theVia Domitia insouthern France in 118 BC, which suggests the writings ofPseudo-Lucian may have some grounding in fact when they state, "[Polybius] fell from his horse while riding up from the country, fell ill as a result and died at the age of eighty-two".
The Histories is auniversal history which describes and explains the rise of theRoman Republic as a global power in theancient Mediterranean world. The work documents in detail political and military affairs across the Hellenistic Mediterranean between 264 and 146 BC, and in its later books includes eyewitness accounts of thesack of Carthage andCorinth in 146 BC, and the Roman annexation of mainland Greece after theAchaean War.[8]
While Polybius'sHistories covers the period from 264 BC to 146 BC, it mainly focuses on the years 221 BC to 146 BC, detailing Rome's rise to supremacy in the Mediterranean by overcoming their geopolitical rivals: Carthage, Macedonia, and the Seleucid empire. Books I-II areThe Histories' introduction, describing events in Italy and Greece before 221/0 BC, including theFirst Punic War, Rome's wars with the Gauls, the rise of theAchaean League (Polybius's own constitution), and the re-establishment of Macedonian power in Greece underAntigonus III Doson andPhilip V of Macedon.[9] Books III-XXXIX describe in detail political and military affairs in the leading Mediterranean states, including affairs inancient Rome andancient Carthage,ancient Greece andancient Macedonia, and theSeleucid empire and Egypt, explaining their increasing "συμπλοκή" (symplokē) or interconnectedness and how they each contributed to Rome's rise to dominance. Only books I-V survive in full; the rest are in varying states of fragmentation.
Three discursive books on politics, historiography and geography break up the historical narrative:
In Book VI, Polybius outlines his famous theory of the "cycle of constitutions" (theanacyclosis) and describes the political, military, and moral institutions that allowed the Romans to defeat their rivals in the Mediterranean. Polybius concludes that the Romans are the pre-eminent power because they currently have customs and institutions which balance and check the negative impulses of their people and promote a deep desire for noble acts, a love of virtue, piety towards parents and elders, and a fear of the gods (deisidaimonia).
In Book XII, Polybius discusses how to write history and criticises the historical accounts of numerous previous historians, includingTimaeus for his account of the same period of history. He asserts Timaeus' point of view is inaccurate, invalid, and biased in favour of Rome.Christian Habicht considered his criticism of Timaeus to be spiteful and biased,[10] However, Polybius'sHistories is also useful in analyzing the different Hellenistic versions of history and of use as a more credible illustration of events during theHellenistic period.
Book XXXIV discussed geographical matters and the importance of geography in a historical account and in a statesman's education. Unfortunately, this book has been almost entirely lost.
Polybius held that historians should, if possible, only chronicle events whose participants the historian was able to interview,[11] and was among the first to champion the notion offactual integrity in historical writing. In the twelfth volume of hisHistories, Polybius defines the historian's job as the analysis of documentation, the review of relevant geographical information, and political experience. In Polybius's time, the profession of a historian required political experience (which aided in differentiating between fact and fiction) and familiarity with the geography surrounding one's subject matter to supply an accurate version of events.
Polybius himself exemplified these principles as he was well travelled and possessed political and military experience. He consulted and used written sources providing essential material for the period between 264 BC to 220 BC, including, for instance, treaty documents between Rome and Carthage in theFirst Punic War, the history of the Greek historianPhylarchus, and theMemoirs of the Achaean politician,Aratus of Sicyon. When addressing events after 220 BC, he continued to examine treaty documents, the writings of Greek and Roman historians and statesmen, eye-witness accounts and Macedonian court informants to acquire credible sources of information, although rarely did he name his sources (see, exceptionally,Theopompus).
Polybius wrote several works, most of which are lost. His earliest work was a biography of the Greek statesmanPhilopoemen; this work was later used as a source byPlutarch when composing hisParallel Lives; however, the original Polybian text is lost. In addition, Polybius wrote an extensive treatise entitledTactics, which may have detailed Roman and Greekmilitary tactics. Small parts of this work may survive in his majorHistories, but the work itself is lost as well. Another missing work was a historical monograph on the events of theNumantine War. The largest Polybian work was, of course, hisHistories, of which only the first five books survive entirely intact, along with a large portion of the sixth book and fragments of the rest. Along withCato the Elder (234–149 BC), he can be considered one of the founding fathers ofRoman historiography.
Livy made reference to and uses Polybius'sHistories as source material in his own narrative. Polybius was among the first historians to attempt to present history as a sequence of causes and effects, based upon a careful examination and criticism of tradition. He narrated his history based upon first-hand knowledge.The Histories capture the varied elements of the story of human behavior:nationalism,xenophobia, duplicitous politics, war, brutality, loyalty, valour, intelligence, reason and resourcefulness.
Aside from the narrative of the historical events, Polybius also included three books of digressions. Book 34 was entirely devoted to questions of geography and included some trenchant criticisms ofEratosthenes, whom he accused of passing on popular preconceptions orlaodogmatika. Book 12 was a disquisition on the writing of history, citing extensive passages of lost historians, such asCallisthenes andTheopompus. Most influential was Book 6, which describes Roman political, military, and moral institutions, which he considered key to Rome's success; it presented Rome as having a mixed constitution in whichmonarchical,aristocratic and popular elements existed in stable equilibrium. This enabled Rome to escape, for the time being, the cycle of eternal revolutions (anacyclosis) faced by those with singular constitutions (i.e. many of the Greeks and the Macedonians). While Polybius was not the first to advance this view, his account provides the most cogent illustration of the ideal for later political theorists.
A key theme ofThe Histories is good leadership, and Polybius dedicates considerable time to outlining how the good statesman should be rational, knowledgeable, virtuous and composed. The character of the Polybian statesman is exemplified in that ofPhilip II, who Polybius believed exhibited both excellent military prowess and skill, as well as proficient ability in diplomacy and moral leadership.[12] His beliefs about Philip's character led Polybius to reject the historianTheopompus' description of Philip's private, drunken debauchery. For Polybius, it was inconceivable that such an able and effective statesman could have had an immoral and unrestrained private life as described by Theopompus.[13] The consequences of bad leadership are also highlighted throughout theHistories. Polybius saw, for instance, the character and leadership of the laterPhilip V of Macedon, one of Rome's leading adversaries in the Greek East, as the opposite of his earlier exemplary namesake. Philip V became increasingly tyrannical, irrational and impious following brilliant military and political success in his youth; this resulted, Polybius believed, in his abandonment by his Greek allies and his eventual defeat by Rome in 197 BC.[14]
Other important themes running throughoutThe Histories include the role of Fortune in the affairs of nations, how a leader might weather bravely these changes of fortune with dignity,[15] the educational value of history and how it should demonstrate cause and effect (orapodeiktike) to provide lessons for statesmen, and that historians should be "men of action" to gain appropriate experience so as to understand how political and military affairs are likely to pan out (pragmatikoi).
Polybius is considered by some to be the successor ofThucydides in terms ofobjectivity and criticalreasoning, and the forefather of scholarly, painstaking historical research in the modern scientific sense. According to this view, his work sets forth the course of history's occurrences with clearness, penetration, sound judgment, and, among the circumstances affecting the outcomes, he lays special emphasis on geographical conditions. Modern historians are especially impressed with the manner in which Polybius used his sources, particularly documentary evidence as well as his citation and quotation of sources. Furthermore, there is some admiration of Polybius's meditation on the nature of historiography in Book 12. His work belongs, therefore, amongst the greatest productions of ancient historical writing. The writer of theOxford Companion to Classical Literature (1937) praises him for his "earnest devotion to truth" and his systematic pursuit of causation.
It has long been acknowledged that Polybius's writings are prone to a certainhagiographic tone when writing of his friends, such as Scipio, and subject to a vindictive tone when detailing the exploits of his enemies, such as Callicrates, the Achaean statesman responsible for his Roman exile.[16]
As a hostage in Rome, then as client to the Scipios, and after 146 BC, a collaborator with Roman rule, Polybius was probably in no position to freely express any negative opinions of Rome.Peter Green advises that Polybius was chronicling Roman history for a Greek audience, to justify what he believed to be the inevitability of Roman rule. Nonetheless, Green considers Polybius'sHistories the best source for the era they cover. ForRonald Mellor, Polybius was a loyal partisan ofScipio, intent on vilifying his patron's opponents.[17]Adrian Goldsworthy, while using Polybius as a source for Scipio's generalship, notes Polybius's underlying and overt bias in Scipio's favour. H. Ormerod considers that Polybius cannot be regarded as an 'altogether unprejudiced witness' in relation to hisbêtes noires; the Aetolians, the Carthaginians and the Cretans.[18] Other historians perceive considerable negative bias in Polybius's account ofCrete;[19] on the other hand, Hansen notes that the same work, along with passages fromStrabo andScylax,[20] proved a reliable guide in the eventual rediscovery of the lost city ofKydonia.[21]
Polybius was responsible for a useful tool intelegraphy that allowed letters to be easily signaled using anumerical system, called "thePolybius square," mentioned inHist. X.45.6 ff..[22] This idea also lends itself tocryptographic manipulation andsteganography. Modern implementations of the Polybius square, at least in Western European languages such asEnglish,Spanish,French,German andItalian, generally use the Roman alphabet in which those languages are written. However, Polybius himself was writing in Greek, and would have implemented his cipher square in the Greek alphabet. Both versions are shown here.
1
2
3
4
5
1
A
B
C
D
E
2
F
G
H
I/J
K
3
L
M
N
O
P
4
Q
R
S
T
U
5
V
W
X
Y
Z
1
2
3
4
5
1
A
B
Γ
Δ
E
2
Z
H
Θ
I
K
3
Λ
M
N
Ξ
O
4
Π
P
Σ
T
Y
5
Φ
X
Ψ
Ω
In the Polybius square, letters of the alphabet were arranged left to right, top to bottom in a 5 × 5 square. When used with the 26-letterLatin alphabet two letters, usually I and J, are combined. When used with the Greek alphabet, which has exactly one fewer letters than there are spaces (or code points) in the square, the final "5,5" code point encodes the spaces in between words. Alternatively, it can denote the end of a sentence or paragraph when writing in continuous script.
Five numbers are then aligned on the outside top of the square, and five numbers on the left side of the square vertically. Usually these numbers were arranged 1 through 5. By cross-referencing the two numbers along the grid of the square, a letter could be deduced.
InThe Histories, Polybius specifies how this cypher could be used in fire signals, where long-range messages could be sent by means of torches raised and lowered to signify the column and row of each letter. This was a great leap forward from previous fire signaling, which could send prearranged codes only (such as, 'if we light the fire, it means that the enemy has arrived').
Other writings ofscientific interest include detailed discussions of the machinesArchimedes created for the defense of Syracuse against the Romans, where Polybius praises the 'old man' and his engineering in the highest terms, and an analysis of the usefulness of astronomy to generals (both in theHistories).
Polybius was considered a poor stylist byDionysius of Halicarnassus, writing of Polybius's history that "no one has the endurance to reach [its] end".[23] Nevertheless, clearly he was widely read by Romans and Greeks alike. He is quoted extensively byStrabo writing in the 1st century BC andAthenaeus in the 3rd century AD.
His emphasis on explaining causes of events, rather than just recounting events, influenced the historianSempronius Asellio. Polybius is mentioned byCicero and mined for information byDiodorus,Livy,Plutarch andArrian. Much of the text that survives today from the later books ofThe Histories was preserved in Byzantine anthologies.
Montesquieu
His works reappeared in the West first in RenaissanceFlorence. Polybius gained a following in Italy, and although poor Latin translations hampered proper scholarship on his works, they contributed to the city's historical and political discourse.Niccolò Machiavelli in hisDiscourses on Livy evinces familiarity with Polybius. Vernacular translations in French, German, Italian and English first appeared during the 16th century.[24] Consequently, in the late 16th century, Polybius's works found a greater reading audience among the learned public. Study of the correspondence of such men asIsaac Casaubon,Jacques Auguste de Thou,William Camden andPaolo Sarpi reveals a growing interest in Polybius's works and thought during the period. Despite the existence of both printed editions in the vernacular and increased scholarly interest, however, Polybius remained an "historian's historian", not much read by the public at large.[25]
Printings of his work in thevernacular remained few in number—seven in French, five in English (John Dryden provided an enthusiastic preface to Sir Henry Sheers' edition of 1693) and five in Italian.[26]Polybius's political analysis has influenced republican thinkers fromCicero toCharles de Montesquieu to theFounding Fathers of the United States.[27]John Adams, for example, considered him one of the most important teachers of constitutional theory. Since theAge of Enlightenment, Polybius has in general held appeal to those interested inHellenistic Greece and early Republican Rome, while his political and military writings have lost influence in academia. More recently, thorough work on the Greek text of Polybius, and his historical technique, has increased the academic understanding and appreciation of him as a historian.
In hisMeditations On Hunting, Spanish philosopherJosé Ortega y Gasset calls Polybius "one of the few great minds that the turbid human species has managed to produce", and says the damage to theHistories is "without question one of the gravest losses that we have suffered in our Greco-Roman heritage".
The Italian version of his name, Polibio, was used as a male first name—for example, the composerPolibio Fumagalli—though it never became very common.
TheUniversity of Pennsylvania has an intellectual society, the Polybian Society, which is named in his honor and serves as a non-partisan forum for discussing societal issues and policy.
Polybius (1922–1927).Polybius: The Histories. The Loeb Classical Library (in Ancient Greek, English, and Latin). Translated by Paton, W.R. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sone.
—— (1922A).Polybius. Vol. I. Harvard University Press.ISBN0-674-99142-7. Loeb Number L128; Books I-II.
—— (1922B).Polybius. Vol. II.ISBN0-674-99152-4. Loeb Number L137; Books III-IV.
—— (1923).Polybius. Vol. III.ISBN0-674-99153-2. Loeb Number L138; Books V-VIII.
—— (1925).Polybius. Vol. IV.ISBN0-674-99175-3. Loeb Number L159; Books IX-XV.
—— (1926).Polybius. Vol. V.ISBN0-674-99176-1. Loeb Number L160; Books XVI-XXVII.
—— (1927).Polybius. Vol. VI. Harvard University Press.ISBN0-674-99178-8. Loeb Number L161; Books XXVIII-XXXIX.
Polybius (2012).Polybius: The Histories. The Loeb Classical Library (in Ancient Greek, English, and Latin). Translated by Paton, W.R. Chicago: University of Chicago (LacusCurtius).
The Histories orThe Rise of the Roman Empire by Polybius:
^abSorek, Susan (2012).Ancient Historians: A Student Handbook. Continuum. p. 76.ISBN9781441111357.
^Polybius (~150 B.C.). The Rise of the Roman Republic. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (1979). Penguin Books. London, England.
^Nicholson, Emma (2023).Philip V of Macedon in Polybius's Histories. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780192866769., pp. 3, 34-58, 107-118
^Athens from Alexander to Antony by Christian Habicht p119
^Farrington, Scott Thomas (February 2015)."A Likely Story: Rhetoric and the Determination of Truth in Polybius's Histories."Histos 9: 29-66. (p. 40):"Polybius begins his history proper with the 140th Olympiad because accounts of the remote past amount to hearsay and do not allow for safe judgements (διαλήψεις)and assertions (ἀποφάσεις)regarding the course of events.... he can relate events he saw himself, or he can use the testimony of eyewitnesses. ([footnote 34:] Pol.4.2.2: ἐξ οὗ συμβαίνει τοῖς μὲν αὐτοὺς ἡμᾶς παραγεγονέναι, τὰ δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἑωρακότων ἀκηκοέναι.)" [archive URLs:1 (full text),2 (abstract & journal citation)]
^Plb.5.9-12 andNicholson, Emma (2023).Philip V of Macedon in Polybius's Histories. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780192866769., pp. 291-295
^Mogens Herman Hansen 1995,Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium, August 24–27, 1994, Kgl. Danske, Videnskabernes Selskab, 376 pagesISBN87-7304-267-6
^Burke, Peter (1966). "A Survey of the Popularity of Ancient Historians, 1450-1700".History and Theory.5 (2). History and Theory, Vol. 5, No. 2: 135–152 [141].doi:10.2307/2504511.JSTOR2504511.
^Burke, Peter (1966). "A Survey of the Popularity of Ancient Historians, 1450-1700".History and Theory.5 (2). History and Theory, Vol. 5, No. 2: 135–152 [139].doi:10.2307/2504511.JSTOR2504511.
Champion, Craige B. (2004)Cultural Politics in Polybius's Histories. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Davidson, James: 'Polybius' in Feldherr, Andrew ed.The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Derow, Peter S. 1979. "Polybius, Rome, and the East."Journal of Roman Studies 69:1–15.
Eckstein, Arthur M. (1995)Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Farrington, Scott Thomas. 2015. "A Likely Story: Rhetoric and the Determination of Truth in Polybius' Histories.Histos: The On-Line Journal of Ancient Historiography 9: 29–66.
Gibson, Bruce & Harrison, Thomas (editors):Polybius and his World: Essays in Memory of F.W. Walbank, (Oxford, 2013).
McGing, Brian C. (2010)Polybius: The Histories. Oxford Approaches to Classical Literature. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Momigliano, Arnaldo M.:Sesto Contributo alla Storia degli Studi Classici e del Mondo Antico (Rome, 1980).
—— Vol. V (1974) "The Historian's Skin", 77–88 (Momigliano Bibliography no. 531)
—— Vol. VI (1973) "Polibio, Posidonio e l'imperialismo Romano", 89 (Momigliano Bibliography no. 525) (original publication:Atti della Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, 107, 1972–73, 693–707).
Moore, John M (1965)The Manuscript Tradition of Polybius (Cambridge University Press).
Moore, Daniel Walker (2020)Polybius: Experience and the Lessons of History (Brill, Leiden).
Pausch, Dennis (2014) "Livy Reading Polybius: Adapting Greek Narrative to Roman History." InDefining Greek Narrative. Edited by Douglas L. Cairns & Ruth Scodel, 279–297. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Sacks, Kenneth S. (1981)Polybius on the Writing of History. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Schepens, Guido, and Jan Bollansée, eds. 2005.The Shadow of Polybius: Intertextuality as a Research Tool in Greek Historiography. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters.
