Year: 1922, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927 (Reprint 1998, 1979, 1979, 1978, 1968)
Author: Polybius
Genre: History
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Series: The Loeb Classical Library
Language: Ancient Greek / English
Format: PDF
Number of pages: 452 + 548 + 574 + 570 + 560 + 492
Polybius (around 201 BCE, Megalopolis, Arcadia, about 120 BCE, ibid.), Ancient Greek historian. Son of the strategist of the Achaean Union; Polybius himself was a hipparch (chief of cavalry) union. After the victory of the Romans at Pidna in 168 BC. e. over the army of the Macedonian king Perseus II. among 1000 noble Achaeans was sent hostage to Rome, where he lived for about 16 years and became close with prominent Roman commanders and politicians Paul Emilius and Scipio African Jr..
Polybius is the author of "History" in 40 books, of which only the first five have been preserved, the rest have either been lost or come to pass in fragments. The "History" of Polybius is the first attempt to expound the "universal" history of Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Carthage and Rome in their mutual connection; synchronously in the sequence of the Olympiads the events 220-146 BC are described. e. (with excursions from 272 BC, which ends with the "History" of the ancient Greek author Timaeus). In "History" Polybius sought to establish why in such a short time, Rome managed to subjugate almost all of the Mediterranean. He explained this by the perfection of the Roman republican system, which, according to him, rested, like the Spartan system of the time of the legendary Lycurgus, on the blending of the three state forms: basilei, aristocracy and democracy. These three forms Polybius considered true (best); in certain historical conditions they degenerate into perverted (worst) - monarchy, oligarchy and ochlocracy. The teachings of Polybius on state forms were influenced by the views of Aristotle and the Stoics.
Polybius called his "History" pragmatic (from πράγμα - the case), understanding by this statement primarily the events of political and military history. Considering the history of the tutor of life, Polybius. I saw the main task of the historian not in the description, but in explaining events, revealing the causes of phenomena and their interrelations (for example, he explained the change of state forms by the fall of the morals of the representatives of power). In addition, according to Polybius, there is a fate in the history of society, the attitude toward which is inconsistent: he believes that it is powerful and inevitable, then its role in events completely rejects. Like other historians of antiquity, Polybius attached great importance to the activities of individuals (Scipio Elder, Hannibal, Perseus, etc.).
The fully preserved first five books and fragments of other books are published in the series "The Loeb Classical Library" in six volumes. The volumes contain ancient Greek texts and English translations, articles and indexes.
Volume I. Books 1-2
Volume II. Books 3-4
Volume III. Books 5-8
Volume V. Books 16-27
Volume VI. Books 28-39. Fragments
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