Polybius

Abstract

Polybius is not, strictly speaking, a philosopher, but a Greek statesman and historian of the second century BC. Nevertheless, his historical work – which has come down to us very incomplete while retaining its coherence – is our main source for understanding the process of Rome’s rise to universal dominion after the collapse of the Macedonian kingdom in 168 BC. What is more, it retraces the global history of a transforming world between 264 and 146 BC, where Rome is not a model, but an object of study put in perspective. After gaining supreme power, how did Rome exercise it? According to Polybius, the greatest utility of his work in the future lies in this examination (3.4.7–13). Indeed, through the example of Rome and the great Hellenistic kingdoms ousted, the historian raises the question of the fragility of empires and the immanent degeneration of human power (national or hegemonic) as well as the possible palliatives. In this respect, the Histories are, in their own way, a work of political science and philosophy, constructed to instruct statesmen and any reader “who likes to learn.” They have thus attracted the interest of later political thinkers, from Cicero to the Enlightenment (such as Montesquieu).

Originally published in Mortimer Sellers and Stephan Kirste, Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, © Springer Nature B.V. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_953-1.