Polybius of Megalopolis

Originally published on August 26, 2020 (Episode 174)

Introduction

“In terms of time, my work will start with the 140th Olympiad,” wrote the historian Polybius at the beginning of his History:

Before this time things happened in the world pretty much in a sporadic fashion, because every incident was specific, from start to finish, to the part of the world where it happened. But ever since then history has resembled a body, in the sense that incidents in Italy and Libya and Asia and Greece are all interconnected, and everything tends toward a single outcome. That is why I have made this period the starting point of my treatment of world events.

With me to discuss the historian Polybius and his work is Steele Brand. He is Professor of History at Cairn University, where he is also Director of the Statesmanship Initiative. He previously served as the Director of Undergraduate Fellows for the Clements Center for National Security and as a tactical intelligence officer for the U.S. Army.

Brand’s research focuses on republics in the Western tradition and the citizen armies that fought for them. Constitutional polities—especially premodern, agrarian republics—cultivated a unique set of virtues and a deadly form of civic militarism that created tough citizens who were as involved in politics as they were proficient at defending their political system.

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About the Guest

Steele Brand is Professor of History at Cairn University and Director of the Statesmanship Initiative. A historian of republics and civic militarism, he has written on the traditions of citizen-soldiers in the Western world. He is the author of Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of War (Oxford University Press, 2019), discussed previously on Historically Thinking in Episode 124.

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For Further Investigation

• Episode 45: The View from Thucydides’ Tower (Historically Thinking)

• Episode 11: The First Historian (Historically Thinking)

• Website of Steele Brand

• Polybius, The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield

• Arthur Eckstein, Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius

• Frank W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius

• Brian C. McGing, Polybius’ Histories

• Bruce Gibson and Thomas Harrison (eds.), Polybius and His World: Essays in Memory of F.W. Walbank

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Listen & Discuss

What did you learn about Polybius, and about republics? Add your thoughts in the comments — and pass the episode along to a friend who’d enjoy it.

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