Term Paper on "Ancient Historians"

Term Paper 6 pages (2183 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Polybius

In Polybius' Histories he outlines the beginning of the Roman Empire

and describes the early period from which Rome came to power and become the

dominant empire in the known world. Polybius was a Greek historian who

knew Rome, and was writing to a Greek audience. In his first book in his

Histories, he discusses the early days of Roman power. In particular, in

the first chapters on Book I, he outlines how and why the Romans came to

take power in Sicily and win over the Carthaginians. His outline of

history is largely military based and goes through the history of the

events primarily by the course of action in determining the military

outcome of the conflict. But he does so often reflecting on other

historians views as well as his own viewpoints from largely a pro-Roman

perspective. Furthermore, the causes behind the events to Polybius seem to

be the inevitable rise of Rome, and while he gives credit to the

Carthaginians, he has a great respect and belief in the Roman destiny, but

leaves out of causes for the conflict that a realistic modern perspective

would take into account.

Polybius begins his history of the rise of the Roman Empire with an

introduction on history and this is that he believes there should be a

"praise" of history (Polybius 5). This is because he mentions that the

history that he is going to recount is one of utmost importance and should

have great value to those who care, and that is how the Roman Empire rose

to power in less than fifty three years. He writes that people are "so

worthless or indolent" if they do not care about how the Romans

accomplished such an admirable goal as they did not in which they became to

greatest power in the known world (Polybius 5). He calls this "a thing

unique in history," thus reflecting his position as to the role of the

Roman Empire (Polybius 5). He then outlines his work and sets out to

explain how the Romans came to power, something that is a major theme for

historians of his time because it is very significant that such strong

empires of the past had now given way to the Romans, including his own

people, the Greeks.

Polybius' history begins with the Punic Wars and tells of the Roman

conflict with the Carthage forces. In particular, if looking at the

history told by Polybius, he gets much of the details correct. The Romans

and Carthaginians clashed beginning in 264 BC and was a largely naval

conflict in which Sicily was also a main focus of the war (UNRV History).

In particular Messina and Syracuse were the original sources of the

conflict and Messina betrayed the Carthiginians by going to the Romans for

help after asking for Carthaginian support. The causes of the conflict in

real life were therefore the details which Polybius relays, and in relating

the details in his history in comparison to the real life equivalent

Polybius appears to be doing justice to the story.

However, to Polybius the causes of the conflict that resulted in the

Punic Wars is purely factual. He relays the military events and the causes

with accuracy, but does not go into anymore depth. For example he writes

about Hiero II and Mamertines of Messene and the Roman's involvement in the

conflict as a local conflict gone bigger. Furthermore, he makes an effort

to ensure that other historians do not inaccurately portray the Roman

invasion and that the Roman's were not routed. For instance he explicitly

writes, "An equally powerful motive with me for paying particular attention

to this war is that, to my mind, the truth has not been adequately stated

by those historians who are reputed to be the best authorities on it,"

which suggests that his goals are something other than just a factual

account of the war (Polybius 37). That does not mean his account is not

factual, but that he has a perspective that he wants to be expressed and he

is willing to express his intentions to express these facts. This is

similar in how the beginning of the history he outlines the importance and

value to what he is about to write, thus trying to make it very clear to a

reader the extent and value of the events he is portraying.

This means that Polybius' account on the causes of the history he is

presenting is something fairly superficial. He does not evaluate the

events of history without looking at a deeper level. And if he does take

into account a deeper level, it is that the Romans were meant to fight the

war, and win the war. He begins his history by noting that it is a

description of how the Roman's came to power, so thus the rest of his

history has to fall into line. He does not account for divine intervention

or superstitious reasons for the Roman successes, but hints that the

Roman's were meant to be successful and justified in their success. If

anything, the Romans were a rising Empire on the level of the Carthaginians

and it was a battle between two able and successful powers of the world,

one for ultimate power. While Polybius does consider the role of

individuals in the conflict, his history is reflected more so as a history

of two empires, and the inevitable rise of the Romans as the greatest in

the world. Polybius not only writes as a believer of the Roman destiny,

but as an active participant, and thus his history of the Roman

justification to world domination is shrouded in further bias.

As a Greek in Rome, and since his people were conquered by Romans,

Polybius needs to share his feelings of justification for Roman domination.

This means that he frequently refers to the Roman strengths and

righteousness and his history sees no other alternative to an end than

Roman domination. For example he writes, "King Hiero having placed himself

under the protection of the Romans," went on ", treating the Greeks in such

a way as to win from them crowns and other honours" (Polybius 43). This

means that the policy towards the Greeks was important to Polybius, and a

fair policy towards the Greeks meant for a more than fair portrayal of the

Romans. In fact, he writes of King Hiero that he should be regarded, "as

the most illustrious of princes and the one who reaped longest the fruits

of his own wisdom in particular cases and in general policy," which is a

direct interjection of personal opinion resulting from his relationship to

the involved parties of the Punic Wars (Polybius 43).

Writing from the perspective of the victors therefore dictates

Polybius' account of his history. While fair to the Carthaginians, it is

perhaps only to demonstrate the great forces that Rome had to overcome, and

was destined to overcome, to be come a world power in less then 53 years.

This is because Polybius set out to write a history that described the

"Roman dominion the most famous empires of the past," and therefore the

Carthaginians must be portrayed as a formidable opponent (Polybius 6).

There is no glory in crushing a lesser opponent or fighting an unjustified

war. That is not to say that real evidence points to the Carthaginians as

a lesser power than the Romans, but rather to illustrate that Polybius had

motive to portray the events as fair as he did. While denying Roman

defeats, he described the events of the first Punic Wars as an admirable

war fought on both sides, but one in which Rome was meant to win as it was

the first and most necessary step for Rome to become the world power that

it eventually became. Writing as a Greek in Rome, he needs to justify

Rome's domination over his people and he does so by explaining the

greatness in which Rome has treated the Greeks, and the greatness of Rome

in military combat and the greatness that they had to defeat to establish

themselves as a world power.

Modern historians would mainly view this conflict as an inevitable

battle between two powers with similar interests and not the inevitable

course of events for Roman interests. Carthagian was a power to the south

and Rome to the north and in between there was a conflict of interests.

From a realistic perspective on history, both sides must have feared the

other and wanted to secure their own personal interests as well as expand.

The expansion of one empire meant a loss to the other. For instance if

Rome increased influence in Sicily, this meant a loss of influence for the

Carthaginians and thus the central Mediterranean can be seen as a zero-sum

game in which all out war was an inevitable result of political interests

and international security concerns as well as domestic designs on

expansion. It was not inevitable outcome for Roman greatness,… READ MORE

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