Who Was Polybius and What did he Write?

Polybius was the son of Lycortus the Stratigos of the Achaean league in Greece. He was born around 198 B.C.
He was very well educated for his time and intended to follow in his father’s footsteps as Stratigos for the League. By the time he was thirty he was appointed Hipparch (cavalry commander) of the Achaean league. In that capacity he was sent by the archon of the league to offer the services of the Achaean cavalry to Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the Roman Consul who was about to fight a battle against King Perseus of Macedonia. Paullus told him the cavalry was not needed but invited him to dinner. At this dinner he made friends with Paullus’ two sons, Quintus Fabius and Publius Scipio. He was allowed to stick around and observe the battle.
Paullus decisively won the Battle of Pydna and eventually captured Perseus and his family. Rome extended its hegemony upon Macedonia and most of Greece. The Romans sent a delegation to Greece to sort out its affairs, and they demanded 1000 hostages from the Achaean league. Despite his pro-Roman leanings, Polybius was one of the hostages.
Due to his friendship with Lucius Aemilius Paullus and his sons, Polybius had a privileged situation in Rome. Paullus hired him to tutor his sons who were 19 and 17 at this time. He had access to the Roman archives, and he undertook writing a history of Rome. He was in Italy for seventeen years before he and the other surviving hostages were allowed to return to Greece. Toward the end of this time, he accompanied Publius Scipio (Scipio Minor) to Spain and Africa, where he was able to interview Masinissa, the Numidian chieftain who had played a significant role in the Roman victory in the Second Punic War.
He had not been back in Achaea for long when he received a request from Scipio to accompany him and advise him in his war against Carthage (the Third Punic War), so he was a witness to the destruction of Carthage. He decided to extend his Histories to cover this event.
Polybius wrote many books but some of them have been lost. He was, however, a primary source for other Roman and Greek historians like Livy, Plutarch and Appian of Alexandria. He analyzed how the Roman political system worked, and his writings influenced Some of the founding fathers of the U.S., particularly his concept of balance of power.
Roman hegemony over Greece was harsh and Polybius did his best to ameliorate conditions for the Greeks. He lived to the age of about 82 and died from a fall from his horse.
Polybius is a character in my historical novels The Death of Carthage, The Last Carthaginian and Sempronia the Sister of the Gracchi. I Have written a historical novel about him, but it has not been published.