born 0441; 200, Megalopolis, Arcadia, Greece
died 0441; 118 BC
Greek statesman and historian.
Son of an Achaean statesman, Polybius was one of 1,000 eminent Achaeans deported to Rome in 168 BC for supposed disloyalty to the Romans. There he became mentor to Scipio Africanus the Younger, with whom he witnessed the destruction of Carthage soon after his political detention had ended. When hostilities broke out between Achaea and Rome, he negotiated for his countrymen and sought to reestablish order. His reputation rests on his history of the rise of Rome; of its 40 volumes, only 5 survive in their entirety.