Dějiny I (Polybios) – Polybios (2022)

Polybius belongs, along with Herodotus and Thucydides, to the great trio of ancient Greek historians. He lived during the time of Roman expansion and, although he was Greek in body and spirit, he accepted its ideology and world-conquering ambitions. Politically, he was involved in the leadership of the Achaean League and after the conquest of Greece by Rome in 168, he intervened on behalf of many compatriots, earning him widespread gratitude. He dedicated himself to historiography, aiming to clarify Roman hegemony and its causes. In his main work, Historiai (Histories), consisting of 40 books, he described the history of his time from the beginning of the Second Punic War to the conquest of Carthage, i.e., the period from 220 to 144 BC. The complete first five books of this work have survived, while the others exist only in excerpts. In the history of the historiographical genre, Polybius is a type of pragmatic historian who based his work on personal experience and recorded events unembellished, according to the truth. The purpose of history, according to him, is not entertainment, but knowledge and understanding of the past and lessons for the future. The historian must seek connections between events and examine their motives and causes. Polybius derives the fate of the state closely from the form and structure of its constitution, and it is precisely in the Roman constitution, which combines monarchical, democratic and...