Polybius

Polybius was a Greek statesman and historian who lived during Rome’s expansion across the Mediterranean. After being taken to Rome, he wrote a history explaining how Rome defeated Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms and achieved Mediterranean supremacy.

Before his years in Rome, Polybius had been active in the Achaean League and belonged to the political elite of Megalopolis. After the Roman victory over Macedon he was taken to Italy as one of a group of Achaean hostages, where he formed a close association with Scipio Aemilianus and gained exceptional access to Roman political and military circles. His historical method stressed eyewitness testimony, geography and the comparison of constitutions, making his work important not only as a narrative of Roman expansion but also as an analysis of how states gain and lose power.

In Polybius’ The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius’s history explains how Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean world between the First Punic War and the destruction of Carthage and Corinth.