Histories (Polybius)

Polybius’ *Histories* is a work of history from the 2nd century BC that documents how Rome rose to power. It was originally written in 40 volumes, but only the first five survive in full. Most of the rest has come down to us through collections of excerpts preserved in Byzantine libraries. Polybius himself was a Greek historian from the city of Megalopolis in Arcadia. After Rome’s victory in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), he was taken to Rome as a hostage, and it was there that he began writing his account of Rome’s ascent to great-power status.

Fragments of the *Histories* survive on papyri from Roman Egypt, many from the Faiyum region or among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri—for example, Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5268 (covering Books 28.2.6.1–8.1) and P. Ryl. Gr. 1 60 (covering Books 13.8–16.8). The manuscript tradition, according to Moore (1965), stems from about nine prototype manuscripts, the oldest of which is Vaticanus Gr. 124, dated to AD 947.

The *Histories* begin in 264 BC and end in 146 BC (Polybius lived from around 200 BC to about 117 BC). He focuses especially on the 53 years between 220 and 167 BC, when Rome subjugated Carthage and took control of Hellenistic Greece. Books I through V cover the major states of the time—Ptolemaic Egypt, Hellenistic Greece, and Macedon—and deal at length with the First and Second Punic Wars. In Book VI, he describes the Roman Constitution and outlines the powers of the consuls, the Senate, and the People. Polybius argues that states like Athens and Thebes followed an “abnormal” growth, meaning their rise to power and subsequent fall were driven by fortune. He credits leaders such as Themistocles in Athens and Pelopidas and Epaminondas in Thebes for their temporary good fortune. This view of Periclean Athens may contradict what many modern historians consider Greece’s Golden Age. He then compares Rome’s political system to those of the Cretans, Spartans, and Carthaginians, concluding that Rome’s success came from its mixed constitution, which blended elements of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. The remaining books cover the period from Hannibal’s defeat in 201 BC to the destruction of Carthage and the Greek city-state of Corinth in 146 BC.

Tyche—fate or fortune—is central to Polybius’ understanding of history. It has a double meaning in his work: it can refer to chance events, but it was also personified as a goddess in Hellenistic tradition. The role of tyche is what prompted Polybius to begin his work, as he discusses the fortunate events that led to Rome’s Mediterranean dominance.

In Book VI, Polybius digresses to explain the Roman constitution, showing it to be mixed. This was aimed at his Greek audience, who believed a state’s strength was reflected in its constitution. The mixed constitution was considered the strongest because it combined Aristotle’s three ideal types: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Following Aristotle, Polybius also identifies their corrupt counterparts: tyranny, oligarchy, and ochlocracy. These governments, he says, cycle through a process called anacyclosis (or kyklos), starting with monarchy and ending with ochlocracy.

The *Histories* have an aristocratic tone and reveal Polybius’ views on honor, wealth, and war. They are valued for both their literary quality and their interpretation of facts and events.

The first English translation, by Christopher Watson, was published in London in 1568 as *The hystories of the most famous and worthy cronographer Polybius*. F. W. Walbank later wrote a comprehensive three-volume commentary on the *Histories*, published between 1957 and 1979.