Ambrose Bierce
American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
Polybius
ancient Greek historian
Polybius was a Greek historian who lived in the middle Hellenistic period. He is known for his comprehensive work ‘The Histories,’ which documented the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Polybius was a close friend and mentor to Scipio Africanus the Younger, and his writings had a significant influence on later political philosophers.
Table of Contents
Occupation
About the Polybius
Polybiuswas a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work The Histories, 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 BC, recording in detail events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Africa, and documented the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars among many others.
Polybius’s Histories 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 the separation of powers in government, of checks and balances to limit power, and his introduction of “the people”, all influenced Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, and the framers of the United States Constitution.
The leading expert on Polybius for nearly a century was F. W. Walbank (1909-2008), who published studies related to him for 50 years, including a long commentary of his Histories and a biography.
Polybius was a close friend and mentor to Scipio Africanus the Younger, and had a lasting influence on his decision-making and life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Polybius was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period, known for his comprehensive work ‘The Histories,’ which documented the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
Polybius’s Histories covered the period of 264–146 BC, recording in detail events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Africa, and documented the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars among many others.
Polybius’s Histories 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, which influenced later political philosophers like Montesquieu and the framers of the United States Constitution.
The leading expert on Polybius for nearly a century was F. W. Walbank (1909–2008), who published studies related to him for 50 years, including a long commentary of his Histories and a biography.
Polybius was a close friend and mentor to Scipio Africanus the Younger, and had a lasting influence on his decision making and life.
Polybius lived in the middle Hellenistic period, around 200 – 118 BC.
Polybius’s Histories documented the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars, as well as events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Africa during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.