Polybius' "Histories" begin in the year 264 BC and end in 146 BC (Polybius was born around 200 BC and died around 117 BC). He is primarily concerned with the 53 years in which Ancient Rome became a dominant world power. This period, from 220–167 BC, saw Rome subjugate Carthage and gain control over Hellenistic Greece. Books I through V cover the affairs of important states at the time (Ptolemaic Egypt, Hellenistic Greece, Macedon) and deal extensively with the First and Second Punic Wars. In Book VI he describes the Roman Constitution and outlines the powers of the consuls, Senate and People. The differences between the first set of states, namely, Athens and Thebes, and the second set which consists of those of Sparta, Crete, Mantinea and Carthage he asserted, on the ground that the states of Athens and Thebes followed an "abnormal" growth. By "abnormal" Polybius means that these states due both the rise to the pinnacle of their power and the downfall to the caprice of fortune. It's chiefly because the Athenians had such leaders as Themistocles, and the Thebans Pelopidas and Epaminondas, that the two states have on their side the favors of fortune for a time. Interestingly, the view of Polybius on the age of Pericles might, to some extent, be considered as contrary to what most modern historians thought was the Golden Age of Greece. He then compares the political system of the Roman state to that of the Cretans, the Spartans, and shows in what aspect the laws of Rome are superior to those of the Carthaginians. He concludes that the success of the Roman state was based on their mixed constitution, which combined elements of a democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. The remainder of the "Histories" discusses the period in which Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean, from the defeat of Hannibal in 201 BC to the destruction of Carthage and the Greek city-state of Corinth in 146 BC.