Polybius (200-118 BC) (jan 1, 200 BC – jan 1, 118 BC)
Description:
Born in Megalopolis (in Arcadia); son of Lycortas and friend of Philopoemen; bore Philopoemen’s ashes to burial in 182 BC; a Hipparch of the Achaean Confederation; brought to Rome as a prisoner of war after the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC; accompanied Scipio Aemilianus to Carthage in 146 BC; invented an instrument for cryptography called the “Polybius Square”; died when he fell off his horse; a member of the “Scipionic Circle”
His works were pragmatike historia and were free from emotional elements, only including facts
Wrote commentaries on the life of Philopoemen which were later used by Plutarch.
Wrote The Histories. 40 books written in Greek, but only the first five are extant. The work is about the First Punic War through the sacks of Corinth and Carthage in 146 BC. It is described as a pragmatike historia free from emotional elements, only including facts. The Excerpta Antiqua is a summary of the first eighteen books.
Books 19, 26, and 37: Quoted by other authors.
Book 34: Deals solely with geography.
Added to timeline:
Latin Lit
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