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The Complete Works of Polybius
Polybius was a leading Hellenistic historian, whom many regard as the natural successor to Thucydides. The great theme to his ‘Histories’ was a study of ‘what made Rome great’, exploring the rise of the Republic, the destruction of Carthage and the eventual Roman domination of the Greek world. The Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete extant works of Polybius, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Polybius's life and works
* Features the complete extant works of Polybius, in both English translation and the original Greek
* Includes Evelyn S. Shuckburgh’s celebrated translation
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Provides a special dual English and Greek text of the five complete books of ‘The Histories’, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph – ideal for students
* Features a bonus biography – discover Polybius's ancient world
* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres
Please note: some Kindle software programs cannot display Greek characters correctly; however the characters do display correctly on Kindle devices.
CONTENTS:
The Translations
THE HISTORIES
The Greek Text
CONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXT
The Dual Texts
DUAL GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXT
The Biography
INTRODUCTION TO POLYBIUS by H. J. Edwards
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Polybius's life and works
* Features the complete extant works of Polybius, in both English translation and the original Greek
* Includes Evelyn S. Shuckburgh’s celebrated translation
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Provides a special dual English and Greek text of the five complete books of ‘The Histories’, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph – ideal for students
* Features a bonus biography – discover Polybius's ancient world
* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres
Please note: some Kindle software programs cannot display Greek characters correctly; however the characters do display correctly on Kindle devices.
CONTENTS:
The Translations
THE HISTORIES
The Greek Text
CONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXT
The Dual Texts
DUAL GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXT
The Biography
INTRODUCTION TO POLYBIUS by H. J. Edwards
Kindle Edition
First published June 16, 2014
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225 people want to read
About the author
Polybius
498 books103 followersPolybius (ca. 200–118 BC), Greek Πολύβιος) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories covering in detail the period of 220–146 BC. He is also renowned for his ideas of political balance in government, which were later used in Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws and in the drafting of the United States Constitution.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 2, 2018
Very readable stuff, really, especially about the Second Punic War. It's nice to compare Polybius' account with Livy (also available as an e-book from Delphi Classics).
September 28, 2025
Primary classical sources often prove quite tantalizing: what has been preserved remains compelling and important, but highlights all the more what has been lost, at least in the present moment.
Polybius well represents this tendency. Polybius was a Greek historian of the second century BCE and was an active participant in Greek life and politics in its twilight period.
He was highly regarded for two reasons: he was a very thorough historian, very much taking on the mantle of Thucydides, and, having quite astutely perceived the deep sources of political and governmental strength in Rome, wrote with the expectation Rome would be a long-term and significant power.
We can understand why the Romans would happily have Polybius’ Histories, his grand exposition of Mediterranean affairs from the outbreak of the First Punic War through the end of Carthage in the Third Punic War (246-164 BCE). And yet, as can be seen in the Delphi Classics edition of the Complete Works of Polybius, only the first five books of the Histories has come down to us.
If you’re interested in how the Romans won the First Punic War, and how they courted disaster time and time again against Hannibal in 218-216 BCE through the Battle of Cannae, and if you are really interested in all the internal warfare and conflict among the Greek leagues and the political and military affairs of the Macedonian kingdoms in the late third century BCE, then this book is for you.
We have a lot of data regarding what took place in the First Punic War and the beginning of the Second Punic War for this reason. Even though we do have some other sources for the rest of the Second Punic War and all which followed afterward, the lack of Polybius’ voice means we have far less detailed understanding of how it all went down.
A lot of what happened in history was well-documented at the time, and we have lost far more than what has been preserved of that documentation. It’s a humbling reminder as we consider what we know, and what we cannot know, about what took place in the past.
Polybius well represents this tendency. Polybius was a Greek historian of the second century BCE and was an active participant in Greek life and politics in its twilight period.
He was highly regarded for two reasons: he was a very thorough historian, very much taking on the mantle of Thucydides, and, having quite astutely perceived the deep sources of political and governmental strength in Rome, wrote with the expectation Rome would be a long-term and significant power.
We can understand why the Romans would happily have Polybius’ Histories, his grand exposition of Mediterranean affairs from the outbreak of the First Punic War through the end of Carthage in the Third Punic War (246-164 BCE). And yet, as can be seen in the Delphi Classics edition of the Complete Works of Polybius, only the first five books of the Histories has come down to us.
If you’re interested in how the Romans won the First Punic War, and how they courted disaster time and time again against Hannibal in 218-216 BCE through the Battle of Cannae, and if you are really interested in all the internal warfare and conflict among the Greek leagues and the political and military affairs of the Macedonian kingdoms in the late third century BCE, then this book is for you.
We have a lot of data regarding what took place in the First Punic War and the beginning of the Second Punic War for this reason. Even though we do have some other sources for the rest of the Second Punic War and all which followed afterward, the lack of Polybius’ voice means we have far less detailed understanding of how it all went down.
A lot of what happened in history was well-documented at the time, and we have lost far more than what has been preserved of that documentation. It’s a humbling reminder as we consider what we know, and what we cannot know, about what took place in the past.
July 17, 2025
Translated to English by W.R. Paton (1922-7), ebook
Since I've read almost all the Classical historians, I should have read Polybius by now, but I had been waiting for a Landmark edition since buying their fantastic editions of Thucydides and Herodotus in 2009. They soon released Xenophon's Hellenika and Arrian's history of Alexander the Great, by 2010. At that time, they were claiming that Xenophon's Anabasis, Polybius and Julius Caesar would follow in a couple of years. Two of those eventually came out, but Polybius keeps getting pushed back (currently to 2026), so here I am with a public domain translation and no maps.
The 2nd century BC historian Polybius took as his unifying theme the rise of Rome from merely rule of Italy to hegemon of "the world", ending with the destruction of Carthage and reducing the many city-states of Greece in their various Leagues to a province along with Macedon in 146 BC. Only the first 5 of 39 books have survived complete. Much of the most interesting parts Classicists talk about are in the fragments: the Roman "mixed constitution" in Book VI, how a legion could consistently defeat a phalanx in Book XVIII, etc. Polybius clearly had a bright, piercing mind, though his digressions on why he's writing a certain way get eye-rolling even in fragmentary form... makes you wonder why epitomizers thought the surviving digressions were worth saving!
Since I've read almost all the Classical historians, I should have read Polybius by now, but I had been waiting for a Landmark edition since buying their fantastic editions of Thucydides and Herodotus in 2009. They soon released Xenophon's Hellenika and Arrian's history of Alexander the Great, by 2010. At that time, they were claiming that Xenophon's Anabasis, Polybius and Julius Caesar would follow in a couple of years. Two of those eventually came out, but Polybius keeps getting pushed back (currently to 2026), so here I am with a public domain translation and no maps.
The 2nd century BC historian Polybius took as his unifying theme the rise of Rome from merely rule of Italy to hegemon of "the world", ending with the destruction of Carthage and reducing the many city-states of Greece in their various Leagues to a province along with Macedon in 146 BC. Only the first 5 of 39 books have survived complete. Much of the most interesting parts Classicists talk about are in the fragments: the Roman "mixed constitution" in Book VI, how a legion could consistently defeat a phalanx in Book XVIII, etc. Polybius clearly had a bright, piercing mind, though his digressions on why he's writing a certain way get eye-rolling even in fragmentary form... makes you wonder why epitomizers thought the surviving digressions were worth saving!
March 9, 2025
Polybius's writing is clear and he clear states what lessons he draws from the events he describes. Enjoyable to listen to. Handy to have a map of Greece and Italy place names from antiquity handy when reading. It is unfortunate so much of his work has been lost to history,
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews