The historian Polybius (ca. 200 118 BCE) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese (Morea) and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favoring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. Late in his life he became a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans; helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage; and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece.

Polybius overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264 146 BCE, describing the rise of Rome, her destruction of Carthage, and her eventual domination of the Greek world. It is a great work: accurate, thoughtful, largely impartial, based on research, and full of insight into customs, institutions, geography, the causes of events, and the character of peoples. It is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books have reached us.

For this edition, W. R. Paton s excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

The historian Polybius (ca. 200-118 bce) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. As a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans, he helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage, and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece. Polybius's overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264-146 bce, describing the rise of Rome, the destruction of Carthage, and the eventual domination of the Greek world. The Histories is a vital achievement despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books survive. For this edition, W. R. Paton's excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship. The final volume adds a new edition of fragments unattributed to particular books of The Histories.

The historian Polybius (ca. 200 118 BCE) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese (Morea) and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favoring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. Late in his life he became a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans; helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage; and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece.

Polybius overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264 146 BCE, describing the rise of Rome, her destruction of Carthage, and her eventual domination of the Greek world. It is a great work: accurate, thoughtful, largely impartial, based on research, and full of insight into customs, institutions, geography, the causes of events, and the character of peoples. It is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books have reached us.

For this edition, W. R. Paton s excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

The historian Polybius (ca. 200 118 BCE) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favoring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. Late in his life, as a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans, he helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage, and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece.

Polybius overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264 146 BCE, describing the rise of Rome, her destruction of Carthage, and her eventual domination of the Greek world. It is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books have reached us.

For this edition, W. R. Paton s excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

This volume carries the history of Macedonia through from the death of Philip II to the end of its existence as an independent state in 167 BC. Its expansion in the reign of Alexander is one of the miracles of history. An attempt is made to understand the internal sources of strength of the kingdom and the impact of Alexander's career upon the Macedonians, the Greek states, and the Balkan area. It then goes on to examine the period of civil war which followed, between the Macedonian generals, each of them claiming to defend the monarchy. After the death of Alexander IV the Macedonian-Hellenistic kingdoms are viewed from the standpoint of Macedonia and the Greek mainland, which remain the central topics of this three-volume history. The final phase is dominated by the wars with Rome; recent discoveries have afforded new insights into Macedonia's contribution to the arts and into the structure and the institutions of this most remarkable of all the monarchic states.

With extensive use of quotations from original source material, this book examines the political events in the Hellenistic world from Alexander's death until his incorporation in the Roman Empire. It also describes the different social systems of the peoples under Greek rule, important developments in literature, science and technology and the founding of new religious movements. The author has assimilated all pertinent recent scholarship in the field, and fashioned an obsorbing account of a vast and complex society whose ideas and achievements for the bedrock of present-day Western civilization.

The historian Polybius (c. 200 118 BCE) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years, favoring alliance with Rome. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and his two sons, especially Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. Late in his life, as a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans, he helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage; and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece.

Polybius overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264 146 BCE, describing the rise of Rome, her destruction of Carthage, and her eventual domination of the Greek world. It is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books have reached us.

For this edition, W. R. Paton s excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

The historian Polybius (ca. 200-118 bc) was born into a leading family of Megalopolis in the Peloponnese and served the Achaean League in arms and diplomacy for many years. From 168 to 151 he was held hostage in Rome, where he became a friend of Scipio Aemilianus, whose campaigns, including the destruction of Carthage, he later attended. As a trusted mediator between Greece and the Romans, he helped in the discussions that preceded the final war with Carthage, and after 146 was entrusted by the Romans with the details of administration in Greece. Polybius's overall theme is how and why the Romans spread their power as they did. The main part of his history covers the years 264-146 bc, describing the rise of Rome, the destruction of Carthage, and the eventual domination of the Greek world. The Histories is a vital achievement of the first importance despite the incomplete state in which all but the first five of its original forty books survive. For this edition, W. R. Paton's excellent translation, first published in 1922, has been thoroughly revised, the Buttner-Wobst Greek text corrected, and explanatory notes and a new introduction added, all reflecting the latest scholarship.

Published in 1928, Volume VII of the Cambridge Ancient History orginally covered both the history of the Hellenistic world from the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC down to the Peace of Naupactus and the battle of Raphia in 217 BC and the history of Rome from its foundation down to the same date. In the new edition the Greek and Roman sections have been assigned to two separate volumes. Of these, VII part I opens after the death of Alexander, in 323 BC, as being a more logical starting-point for Hellenistic history; but 217 has been retained as the terminal date since, as Polybius noted, it is from then onwards that Rome begins to play a substantial role in Greek affairs. The volume has been completely rewritten by specialists from Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Canada, and takes full account of the vast amount of new material that has become available in the last fifty years. Separate chapters deal with the main kingdoms - Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Asia and Macedonia - and with mainland Greece, Sicily and the smaller states including Pergamum. Political events are fully described and assessed, but there is less emphasis on military detail than in the first edition. The space thus saved has been given over to chapters on the historical sources, on the institution of monarchy and the ideology surrounding it, on the main cultural, social and economic aspects of the Hellenistic world and on the development of Hellenistic science, especially in relation to its application in peace and war. This up-to-date and authoritative account of the early Hellenistic world is designed to serve both the student and the general reader of this and subsequent generations as the first edition has served those of the last fifty years.

Frank William Walbank (1909-2008) was a renowned ancient historian and classicist. In this book, which was formed from The Hare Prize Essay for 1939 and first published in 1940, Walbank presents a detailed discussion of the reign of Philip V of Macedon. The text was intended to break fresh ground 'with a study of Philip, not solely as a figure in the history of Roman imperialism, but, as far as is feasible, from the aspect of Macedon itself'. Illustrative figures, a comprehensive bibliography and appendices are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the writings of Walbank and the Hellenistic period.

This volume of the second edition of The Cambridge Ancient History traces the history of Rome from its origins to the eve of the Second Punic War. It begins with a survey of sources for early Roman history. An examination of the first discernible traces of the Bronze Age settlement is followed by an assessment of the regal period. The complex and often controversial history of the early republic is analyzed with reference to its internal development, the evolution of its relationships with the Latins, and its ruthless assaults upon various parts of Italy. Later sections discuss the intervention of Pyrrhus and its aftermath which leads to consideration of Rome's relationships with Carthage, the First Punic War, and the beginnings of overseas empire.

Volume VIII covers the period from immediately before the Second Punic War to 133 B.C., the time when Rome acquired effective political mastery of the Mediterranean lands. From the Carthaginians in Spain, the Second Punic War, and the first Roman involvement across the Adriatic, the advance of Roman power is traced through the conquests in Cisalpine Gaul, Spain and Africa in the west and through the conflicts in the east with Macedonia, the Seleucid empire, and finally the Greeks. Interspersed with these themes are chapters on the Seleucids and their rivals, the Greeks of Bactria and India, the internal political life of Rome, and developments in Rome's relationships with her allies and neighbors in Italy. Two concluding chapters explore the interactions, both intellectual and material, between the Roman and Italian tradition and the Greek world.

As a young man, the historian Polybius was an active politician in the Achaean Confederacy of the second century B.C., and later, during his detention at Rome, became a close friend of some leading Roman families. His "History" is our most important source for the momentous half-century during which the Romans weathered the war with Hannibal and became masters of the Mediterranean world. F. W. Walbank describes the historical traditions within which Polybius wrote as well as his concept of history.

The vast empire that Alexander the Great left at his death in 323 BC has few parallels. For the next three hundred years the Greeks controlled a complex of monarchies and city-states that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to India. Walbank's lucid and authoritative history of that Hellenistic world examines political events, describes the different social systems and "mores" of the people under Greek rule, traces important developments in literature and science, and discusses the new religious movements.