Polybius (ca. 203–120 BC, Greek Greek , an Indo-European language native to the southern Balkan peninsula, is the language of the Greeks. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical Ancient Greek literature Πολύβιος) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period The Hellenistic period describes the era which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia. It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decline or decadence, between the brilliance of the Greek Classical Era and the emergence of the noted for his book called The Histories Polybius’ The Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work, except for the 40th volume, which was the index volume, is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, for the most part covering in detail the period of 220–146 BC. He is also renowned for his ideas of political balance in the government, which was later used in Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws The Spirit of Laws is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside of France was aided by its rapid translation into and the drafting of the United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the Federal Government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document.

Origins

Polybius was born around 203 BC in Megalopolis, Arcadia Arcadia, Arkadía , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas which at that time was an active member of the Achaean League The Achaean League was a confederation of Greek city states in Achaea, a territory on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. An initial confederation existed during the 5th through the 4th century BC. His father Lycortas was a prominent landowning politician and member of the governing class. This gave Polybius firsthand opportunities to gain a deep insight into military and political affairs. Polybius developed an interest in horse riding and hunting, diversions which helped later to commend him to his Roman captors. In 182 BC Polybius was chosen to carry the funeral urn of Philopoemen Philopoemen , (253 BC, Megalopolis – 183 BC, Messene) was a skilled Greek general and statesman, who was Achaean Strategos on eight occasions which was quite an honor as Philopoemen was the most eminent Achaean politician of his generation. In 170 or 169 BC Polybius was elected hipparch or cavalry leader an office which usually presaged election to the annual strategia or post of general. His early political career was devoted largely towards maintaining the independence of the Achaean League.

Personal experiences

Polybius’ father Lycortas was a chief representative of the policy of neutrality during the war of the Romans against Perseus of Macedonia. He attracted the suspicion of the Romans, and as a result, Polybius was one of the 1000 noble Achaeans The Achaeans is one of the collective names used for the Greeks in Homer's Iliad (used 598 times) and Odyssey. The other names are the Danaans (Δαναοί, used 138 times in the Iliad) and Argives (Ἀργεῖοι, used 29 times in the Iliad). In the historical period, the Achaeans were the inhabitants of the region of Achaea, a region in the who in 168 BC were transported to Rome as hostages, and detained there for 17 years. In Rome, by virtue of his high culture, he was admitted to the most distinguished houses, in particular to that of Aemilius Paulus His father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the consul defeated and killed in the battle of Cannae. Lucius Aemilius was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Pauli, an old and aristocratic patrician family. Their influence was immense, particularly due to their fortune and alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones. He was father to Scipio, the conqueror in the Third Macedonian War The Third Macedonian War was a war fought between Rome and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne. Perseus married Laodike, daughter of King Seleucus IV Keraunos of Asia, and increased the size of his army. He also made alliance treaties with Epirus and several, who entrusted him with the education of his sons, Fabius and Scipio Aemilianus (who had been adopted by the eldest son of Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus also known as Scipio Africanus, Scipio the Elder, and Africanus the Elder was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War at Zama, a feat that earned him the agnomen Africanus, the nickname "the). As the former tutor of Scipio Aemilianus, Polybius remained on terms of the most cordial friendship and remained a counselor to the man who defeated the Carthaginians Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis. According to Roman legend it was founded in the Third Punic War The Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic. The Punic Wars were named because of the Roman name for Carthaginians: Punici, or Poenici. The younger Scipio eventually captured and destroyed Carthage Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis. According to Roman legend it was founded, in 146 BC. When the Achaean hostages were released in 150 BC, Polybius obtained leave to return home, but in the very next year he went with his friend to Africa, and was present at the capture of Carthage that he described. It is likely that following the destruction of Carthage, he journeyed down the Atlantic coast of Africa as well as Spain.

After the destruction of Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos ( [ˈkorinθos] ) is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the Saronic Gulf. Corinth is about 78 in the same year, he returned to Greece and made use of his Roman connections to lighten the conditions there; Polybius was entrusted with the difficult task of organizing the new form of government in the Greek cities, and in this office gained for himself the highest recognition.

Rome

The succeeding years he seems to have spent in Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populous city, with over 2.7 million residents in a municipality of some 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi), while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million. It is located, engaged on the completion of his historical work, and occasionally undertaking long journeys through the Mediterranean countries in the interest of his history, more particularly with a view to obtaining firsthand knowledge of historical sites. It also appears that he sought out and interviewed war veterans in order to clarify details of the events he was writing about, and was given access to archival material for the same purpose. Little is known of Polybius' later life. He most likely journeyed with Scipio to Spain and acted as his military advisor during the Numantine War, a war he later wrote about in a lost monograph on the subject. It is also likely that Polybius returned to Greece later in life, since there are many existent inscriptions and statues of him in Greece. There is a report of his death in 118 BC after falling from a horse, although this is only recorded in one source and that source is known to be unreliable.

As historian

Polybius wrote several works, the majority of which are lost. His earliest book was a biography of the Greek statesman Philopoemen Philopoemen , (253 BC, Megalopolis – 183 BC, Messene) was a skilled Greek general and statesman, who was Achaean Strategos on eight occasions, which was used as a source by Plutarch Plutarch, born Plutarchos then, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Μέστριος Πλούταρχος), c. AD 46 – 120, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He was born to a prominent family in Chaeronea, Boeotia, a town about twenty. The Polybian text is lost. In addition, he wrote what appears to have been an extensive treatise entitled Tactics, which detailed Roman and Greek military tactics. Small parts of this work may survive in his major Histories, but the work itself is also lost. Another missing work was a historical monograph on the events of the Numantine War. The largest work was of course, his Histories, which we have only the first five books entirely intact, a large part of the sixth, and fragments of the rest.

Livy Titus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita, from before the foundation of the city (traditionally dated to 753 BC) through to the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time makes reference to and uses him as source material in his own narrative. Polybius is one of the first historians to attempt to present history as a sequence of causes and effects, based upon a careful examination of tradition and conducted with keen criticism. He narrated his History upon what he had himself seen and upon the communications of eye-witnesses and actors in the events. In a classic story of human behavior, Polybius captures it all: nationalism, xenophobia Xenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from, duplicitous politics, horrible battles and brutality, loyalty, valour and bravery, intelligence, reason and resourcefulness. With his eye for detail and characteristic critically reasoned style, Polybius provided a unified view of history rather than a chronology.

Polybius is considered by some to be the successor of Thucydides Thucydides (Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukydídēs) was a Greek historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" due to his strict standards of evidence-gathering and in terms of objectivity and critical reasoning, and the forefather of scholarly, painstaking historical research in the modern scientific sense. According to this view, his work sets forth the course of occurrences with clearness, penetration, sound judgment and, among the circumstances affecting the result, lays especial stress on the geographical conditions. It belongs, therefore, to the greatest productions of ancient historical writing. The writer of the Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (1937) praises him for his "earnest devotion to truth" and for his systematic seeking for the cause of events.

Recently, Polybius's writing has come under a more critical assessment. In Peter Green Peter Green is a British classical scholar noted for his works on Alesander the Great and the Hellenistic Age of ancient history, generally regarded as spanning the era from the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. up to either the date of the Battle of Actium or the death of Augustus in 14 A.D. Green's most famous books are Alexander of Macedon, a's view ^[1]he is often partisan and aims to justify his and his father's careers. He goes out of his way to portray the Achean politician Callicrates in a bad light; thus, leading the reader to suspect that this is because Callicrates was responsible for his being sent to Rome as a hostage. More fundamentally, he — as first a hostage in Rome, client to the Scipios and then finally as a collaborator with Roman rule after 146 BC — is not free to express his true opinions. Green suggests that we should always keep in mind that he was explaining Rome to a Greek audience to convince them of the necessity of accepting Roman rule – which he believed as inevitable. Nonetheless, for Green, Polybius's histories remain invaluable and the best source for the era he covers. Ron Mellor also sees Polybius as partisan who, out of loyalty to Scipio, vilified Scipio's opponents ^[2]. The British author Adrian Goldsworthy Adrian Goldsworthy is a British historian and military writer. Goldsworthy went to college in Westbourne School, Penarth. Later, after studying ancient and modern history at St John's College, Oxford, he completed a D.Phil in ancient military history from Oxford University in 1994, using his doctoral thesis in his first book, The Roman Army at War also constantly mentions Polybius connections with Scipio when using him as a source for the latter's time as a general.

Polybius has been noted to be hostile to some of his subject material; for example, his treatment of Crete Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km² (3,219 square miles) has been noted to be biased in a negative sense.^[3] On the other hand, Hansen notes that Polybius' coverage of Crete supplied an extremely detailed account of ancient Crete. In fact, observations made by Polybius (augmented by passages from Strabo Strabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher and Scylax Scylax of Caryanda was an renowned ancient Greek explorer from Caria, in Anatolia. He lived during the 6th century BCE)^[4] allowed deciphering of the location of the lost ancient city of Kydonia Cydonia or Kydonia was an important ancient city-state on the northwest coast of the island of Crete. It is at the site of the modern-day Greek city of Khania. In legend Cydonia was founded by King Cydon, a son of Hermes and of Akakallis, the daughter of King Minos on Crete.^[5]

Polybius introduced some theories in The Histories Polybius’ The Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work, except for the 40th volume, which was the index volume, is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, for the most part. In it, he also explained the theory of anacyclosis, or cycle of government, an idea that Plato had already explored.

Cryptography

Polybius was responsible for a useful tool in telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. It is a compound term formed from the Greek words tele = far and graphein (γραφειν) = write. Radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy transmits messages using radio. Telegraphy includes recent forms of data transmission such as fax, email, which allowed letters to be easily signaled using a numerical system. This idea also lends itself to cryptographic Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce manipulation and steganography Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity. The word steganography is of Greek origin and means "concealed writing". The first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by.

This was known as the "Polybius square In cryptography, the Polybius square, also known as the Polybius checkerboard, is a device invented by the Ancient Greek historian and scholar Polybius, described in Hist. X.45.6 ff., for fractionating plaintext characters so that they can be represented by a smaller set of symbols", where the letters of the alphabet were arranged left to right, top to bottom in a 5 x 5 square, (when used with the modern 26 letter alphabet The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language, the letters "I" and "J" are combined). Five numbers were 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.

Influence

Polybius was not especially admired by his contemporaries, to whom his lack of high Attic style was seen as a detriment. Later Roman authors writing on the same period, Livy Titus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita, from before the foundation of the city (traditionally dated to 753 BC) through to the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time and Diodorus Diodorus Siculus , was a Greek historian who flourished in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With but one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doing than is to be found in his own work Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon especially, adapted much of his material for their own uses and followed his work extensively. As the Roman position was cemented in Europe, however, Polybius began to decline in popularity. Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56 – ca. 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman sneered at his description of the ideal mixed constitution, and later Imperial writers were generally ignorant of him. Polybius's work lived on in Constantinople, although in something of a mangled form, in excerpts on political theory and administration.

Nonetheless, it was not until the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the that Polybius' works resurfaced in anything more than a fragmentary form. His works appeared first in Florence Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 367,569 (1,500,000 metropolitan area). Polybius gained something of a following in Italy, and although poor Latin translations hampered proper scholarship on his work, he contributed to historical and political discussion there. Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer, and politician and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science.[citation needed] As a Renaissance Man, he was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet and playwright, but, foremost, he was a Civil Servant of the Florentine Republic. In June of 1 appears to have been familiar with Polybius when he wrote his Discourses on Livy The Discourses on Livy is a work of political history and philosophy composed in the early 16th century by the famed Florentine public servant and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), best known as the author of The Prince. Where The Prince is devoted to advising the ruler of a principality, i.e., a type of monarchy, the Discourses. Vernacular translations, in French, German, Italian and English, first appeared in the sixteenth century.^[6] So, too, in the late sixteenth century, did Polybius find a greater reading audience among the learned public. Study of the correspondence of such men as Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England, regarded by many of his time as the most learned in Europe, Jacques Auguste de Thou Jacques Auguste de Thou (October 8, 1553 – May 7, 1617) was a French historian, William Camden William Camden was an English antiquarian and historian. He wrote the first topographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England, and Paolo Sarpi reveals a growing interest in Polybius' 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.^[7] Printings of his work in the vernacular remained few in number—7 in French French is a Romance language spoken, around the world, by more than 100 million people as a first language (mother tongue), by 190 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 54 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France, where the language, 5 in English English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries and of the United States since the mid 20th century, it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world. It is, and 5 in Italian Italian ( italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City. Standard Italian, adopted by the.^[8]

Polybius' political beliefs have had a continuous appeal to republican thinkers, from Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, to Charles de Montesquieu Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Era of the Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions throughout the, to the Founding Fathers of the United States [2]. Since the Enlightenment, Polybius has generally held most appeal to those interested in Hellenistic Greece and Early Republican Rome, and 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 academic understanding and appreciation of Polybius as a historian.

According to Edward Tufte, Polybius was also a major source for Charles Joseph Minard's figurative map of Hannibal's overland journey into Italy during the Second Punic War. ^[9]

Notes

See also

• The Histories
• Polybius square
• Polybius (game)
• Mixed government

References and external links

Editions & translations

• Loeb Classical Library, Polybius, The Histories, six volumes: Greek text with English translation by W. R. Paton

I (L128) Books I-II (1922) ISBN 99142-7 II (L137) Books III-IV (1922) ISBN 99152-4 III (L138) Books V-VIII (1923) ISBN 99153-2 IV (L159) Books IX-XV (1925) ISBN 99175-3 V (L160) Books XVI-XXVII (1926) ISBN 99176-1 VI (L161) Books XXVIII-XXXIX (1927) ISBN 99178-8

• • At "LacusCurtius": Loeb edition translation by W. R. Paton

• The Histories or The Rise of the Roman Empire by Polybius:
  • At Perseus Project: English & Greek version
• At "LacusCurtius": Short introduction to the life and work of Polybius
• 1670 edition of Polybius' works vol.1 at the Internet archive
• 1670 edition of Polybius' works vol.2 at the Internet archive
• Oscar Wilde, The Rise of Historical Criticism: (in CELT)
• Polybius and the Founding Fathers: the separation of powers
• Polybius: "The Rise Of The Roman Empire", Penguin, 1979.

Other Ancient sources

• Titus Livius of Patavium (Livy), libri XXI - XLV
• Pseudo-Lucian Makrobioi
• Paulus Orosius libri VII of Histories against Pagans

Modern works

• Walbank, Frank W:

-- Philip V of Macedon, the Hare Prize Essay 1939 (Cambridge University Press, 1940) -- A Historical Commentary on Polybius (Oxford University Press) Vol.I (1957) Commentary on Books I-VI Vol.II (1967) Commentary on Books VII-XVIII Vol.III (1979) Commentary on Books XIX-XL -- Polybius (University of California Press, 1972) -- Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World: Essays and Reflections (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 0-521-81208-9

• Momigliano, Arnaldo M.: Sesto Contributo alla Storia degli Studi Classici e del Mondo Antico (Rome, 1980)

-- V (1974) "The Historian's Skin”, 77-88 (Momigliano Bibliography no.531) (Review of F W Walbank, Polybius 1972; in The New York Review of Books, 21.12, 18 July 1974, 33-35) -- 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: The Manuscript Tradition of Polybius (Cambridge University Press, 1965)

Categories: Ancient Greek historians | Ancient Greek statesmen | Roman era historians | Ancient Arcadians | Ancient Megalopolitans | 2nd-century BC Greek people | 2nd-century BC historians | 203 BC births | 120 BC deaths

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