Polybius facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Polybius
The stele of Kleitor depicting Polybius, Hellenistic art, 2nd century BC, Museum of Roman Civilization
Born	c. 200 BC Megalopolis, Arcadia
Died	c. 118 BC (aged approx. 82) Roman Greece
Nationality	Greek
Notable work	The Histories (events of the Roman Republic, 220–146 BC)
Main interests	History, philosophy of history
Notable ideas	Anacyclosis Kyklos Ochlocracy
Influences Thucydides Sempronius Asellio
Influenced Cicero, Diodorus, Strabo, Livy, Plutarch, Arrian, Machiavelli, Andrzej Fredro, John Locke, Montesquieu, John Adams, Edmund Burke, Joseph De Maistre, Charles Joseph Minard, Ortega y Gasset

Polybius (born around 200 BC, died around 118 BC) was an important Greek historian. He lived during the Hellenistic period, a time when Greek culture was very influential. He is best known for his major work, The Histories. This book describes the period from 264 BC to 146 BC. It especially focuses on the Punic Wars, which were huge conflicts between Rome and Carthage.

Polybius was also important for his ideas about government. He studied how different parts of a government could work together. He looked at how power could be balanced to prevent any one part from becoming too strong. His ideas influenced famous thinkers like Montesquieu and John Locke. They also helped shape the United States Constitution.

Polybius's Early Life

Polybius was born in a town called Megalopolis in Arcadia, Greece. This town was part of the Achaean League, a group of Greek city-states.

His father, Lycortas, was a powerful politician and landowner. He even became the strategos, or commanding general, of the Achaean League. Because of his father's position, Polybius learned a lot about politics and military matters from a young age. He traveled with his father on important trips as an ambassador. He also enjoyed horse riding and hunting, which were popular activities at the time.

In 182 BC, Polybius was chosen for a special honor. He carried the funeral urn of Philopoemen, a very respected Achaean leader. Later, around 169 or 170 BC, Polybius became a hipparchus, a cavalry officer. This was a step towards becoming a chief general. In his early career, he worked hard to keep Megalopolis independent.

Polybius's Experiences in Rome

Polybius's father wanted the Achaean League to stay neutral during a war between Rome and Perseus of Macedon. This made the Romans suspicious. As a result, Polybius was one of 1,000 Achaean nobles taken to Rome as hostages in 167 BC. He stayed there for 17 years.

While in Rome, Polybius was highly educated. He was welcomed into important Roman families. He became friends with Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, a Roman general who had won the Third Macedonian War. Polybius even helped educate Paullus's sons, including Scipio Aemilianus. Polybius and Scipio Aemilianus became very close friends.

When Scipio defeated the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War, Polybius was still his advisor. The Achaean hostages were set free in 150 BC. Polybius could have gone home, but he chose to join Scipio Aemilianus in Africa the next year. He was there when Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC, an event he later wrote about. After Carthage fell, Polybius probably traveled along the Atlantic coast of Africa and in Spain.

In the same year, the Greek city of Corinth was also destroyed. Polybius returned to Greece and used his Roman connections to help the Greek cities. He was given the important job of organizing new governments for them. He earned great respect for this work.

Life in Rome and Travels

In the years that followed, Polybius lived in Rome. He worked on his historical writings. He also took long journeys around the Mediterranean region. He wanted to visit historical places himself to get firsthand knowledge. He even interviewed soldiers and leaders to get accurate details for his books. He also had access to old records.

We don't know much about Polybius's later life. He likely went with Scipio to Spain during the Numantine War. He wrote a book about this war, but it is now lost. Polybius probably returned to Greece later in his life. Many statues and writings about him have been found there. The last event he mentions in his Histories is the building of the Via Domitia in southern France in 118 BC. Some ancient writers say he died at age 82 after falling from his horse.

Polybius's Famous Work: The Histories

Polybius's most important work is The Histories. This book tells the story of how the Roman Republic grew to become a major power in the ancient Mediterranean world. It includes eyewitness accounts of important events like the destruction of Carthage and the Battle of Corinth. It also covers Rome's takeover of mainland Greece after the Achaean War.

The Histories covers the period from 264 BC to 146 BC. It focuses mainly on the years 220 BC to 167 BC. This is when Rome defeated Carthage and became the most powerful force in the Mediterranean. The first five books of The Histories introduce the political events in leading Mediterranean states. This includes Ancient Greece and Egypt, showing how they were all connected.

In Book VI, Polybius explains why the Romans were so successful. He describes their political, military, and moral systems. He believed Romans succeeded because they valued noble actions, virtue, respect for elders, and a fear of the gods. Polybius also describes famous battles from the Second Punic War. These include battles between Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, like the Battle of Zama.

How Polybius Wrote History

Polybius believed that historians should only write about events if they could interview people who were there. He was one of the first to emphasize that history should be accurate and based on facts. He thought a historian needed political experience to tell fact from fiction. They also needed to know the geography of the places they wrote about.

Polybius himself followed these rules. He traveled widely and had experience in politics and the military. For events before 220 BC, he used written sources. For events after 220 BC, he checked the writings of Greek and Roman historians. He rarely named his sources directly.

Polybius as a Historian

Polybius wrote several books, but most of them are lost. His first work was a biography of Philopoemen, a Greek statesman. He also wrote a detailed book called Tactics, which was probably about Roman and Greek military tactics. Another lost work was a book about the Numantine War.

His biggest work, The Histories, is mostly lost too. Only the first five books are complete, along with parts of the sixth book and fragments of the rest. Polybius is seen as one of the founders of Roman historiography, which is the writing of Roman history.

Livy, another famous historian, used Polybius's Histories as a source for his own writing. Polybius was among the first historians to try to show history as a series of causes and effects. He based his history on firsthand knowledge. The Histories shows many aspects of human behavior, like nationalism, war, loyalty, and intelligence.

Besides telling historical events, Polybius also included three books of extra discussions. Book 34 was about geography. Book 12 discussed how to write history. Most importantly, Book 6 described Roman political, military, and moral systems. He believed these were key to Rome's success. He saw Rome as having a mixed government. It combined elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy in a stable way. This helped Rome avoid constant changes in government.

Polybius believed that a good statesman should be virtuous and calm. He thought that Philip II was an example of this. Polybius refused to believe another historian's stories about Philip's wild private life. For Polybius, it was impossible that such a skilled leader could have an immoral life.

Polybius also believed that history should teach lessons for leaders. He thought historians should be "men of action." Many people see Polybius as a successor to Thucydides in terms of being objective and using critical thinking. They see him as a pioneer of careful historical research. His work is considered one of the greatest ancient historical writings. He is praised for his "earnest devotion to truth" and for trying to find the causes of events.

However, some historians note that Polybius's writing can be biased. He often praised his friends, like Scipio, and criticized his enemies. As a hostage in Rome and later a supporter of Roman rule, he might not have felt free to express negative opinions about Rome. Some historians believe he wrote Roman history for a Greek audience to explain why Roman rule was unavoidable. Despite this, many still consider The Histories the best source for the time period it covers.

Polybius Square and Cryptography

Polybius also created a useful tool for sending messages over long distances. It was a system that allowed letters to be signaled using numbers. This is called the "Polybius square". It is mentioned in his Histories. This idea can also be used for secret codes and hiding messages.

In the Polybius square, letters of the alphabet are arranged in a 5x5 grid. For the 26-letter Latin alphabet, two letters (usually I and J) are combined. For the Greek alphabet, the last space can be used for a word space.

Numbers are placed on the top and left sides of the square, usually 1 through 5. By finding the two numbers that cross-reference in the grid, you can find a letter.

In The Histories, Polybius explains how this code could be used with fire signals. People could send long messages by raising and lowering torches to show the column and row of each letter. This was a big improvement over earlier fire signals, which could only send simple, pre-arranged messages like "the enemy has arrived."

Polybius also wrote about other scientific topics. He discussed the amazing machines Archimedes built to defend Syracuse against the Romans. Polybius praised Archimedes' engineering skills. He also analyzed how useful astronomy was for generals.

Polybius's Influence

Some ancient writers, like Dionysius of Halicarnassus, thought Polybius's writing style was not very good. However, Romans and Greeks clearly read his works widely. He is often quoted by later historians like Strabo and Athenaeus.

His focus on explaining the causes of events, not just listing them, influenced other historians. Cicero, Diodorus, Livy, Plutarch, and Arrian all used his work for information. Much of the text from the later books of The Histories that we have today was saved in Byzantine collections.

Polybius's works reappeared in Europe during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. His ideas about politics influenced thinkers like Niccolò Machiavelli. Later, in the 16th century, his works were translated into French, German, Italian, and English. This made them available to more educated people.

Polybius's ideas about government also influenced republican thinkers. These include Cicero, Charles de Montesquieu, and the Founding Fathers of the United States. John Adams, one of America's founders, thought Polybius was a very important teacher of how governments should be set up.

More recently, scholars have studied Polybius's Greek text and his historical methods more deeply. This has led to a greater understanding and appreciation of him as a historian.