Polybius blends the retelling of the events with his own philosophy about the nature and goals of historical study in addition to his ruminations about the future of Empire (which are pretty much spot on), which can make the text feel a bit uneven at times. That being said, the chapters concerning H

“A pretty face is better than recommendations,” that’s a quote from the book, and it’s a very Roman (or conquered Greek who thinks they are Roman) thing to say.

Old history books transcend the history they are writing about and always give the reader two things: (1) the history they are writing abou

Knocking out another of my yearly history picks from the library of my friend David. Though not quite as good as Herodotus, this one had some entertaining moments, especially when Polybius takes Timaeus to task, which he does frequently and with vigor. Some of the descriptions of troop deployment we

The Histories, on which Polybius’ reputation rests, consisted of 40 books, the last being indexes. Books I–V are extant.

Polybius’ original purpose was to narrate the history of the 53 years (220–168 bce)—from Hannibal’s Spanish campaign to the Battle of Pydna—during which Rome had made itself master

Hannibal, Scipio, The Punic Wars. Dramatic and interesting history with in depth character analysis and description of the time's political and military machinations

To herald the opening of the sixteenth century, from the little Venetian printing press came forth all the great authors of antiquity, each bearing on the title-page the words Ἅλδος ὁ Μανούτιος Ῥωμαῖος καὶ Φιλέλλην [Aldus Manutius, a Roman and a lover of Greece]; words which may serve to remind u