page_title: Punic Wars
section_title: Primary sources
hierarchical_section_title: Punic Wars / Primary sources
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Polybios English: The relief stele of Kleitor supposedely depicting the Achaean statesman and historian Polybius, 2nd century BC, Hellenistic Greek artwork from the Peloponnese. Dimensions are as follows: height of the stele, 2.18 m (7.2 ft); width of the stele, 1.11 m (3.6 ft); height of the carved figure of Polybios, 1.96 m (6.4 ft). The information above was taken from pages 281-282 of John Ma's Statues and Cities: Honorific Portraits and Civic Identity in the Hellenistic World (2013, Oxford University Press).
context_page_description: The Punic Wars were a series of three wars between 264 and 146 BC fought by the states of Rome and Carthage. The First Punic War broke out in Sicily in 264 BC as a result of Rome's expansionary attitude combined with Carthage's proprietary approach to the island. At the start of the war Carthage was the dominant power of the western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire; while Rome was a rapidly expanding power in Italy, with a strong army but a weak maritime arm. The fighting took place primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa, Corsica and Sardinia. It lasted 23 years, until 241 BC, when after immense materiel and human losses on both sides the Carthaginians were defeated. By the terms of the peace treaty agreed Carthage paid large reparations and Sicily was annexed as a Roman province. The end of the war sparked a major but unsuccessful revolt within the Carthaginian Empire.
  The Second Punic War began in 218 BC and witnessed Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and invasion of mainland Italy in 217 BC. This expedition enjoyed considerable early success, but after 14 years the survivors withdrew.
context_section_description: The main source for almost every aspect of the Punic Wars is the historian Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BC), a Greek sent to Rome in 167 BC as a hostage. His works include a now-lost manual on military tactics, but he is now known for The Histories, written sometime after 146 BC. Polybius's work is considered broadly objective and largely neutral as between Carthaginian and Roman points of view. Polybius was an analytical historian and wherever possible personally interviewed participants, from both sides, in the events he wrote about. He accompanied the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus during his campaign in North Africa which resulted in the Roman victory in the Third Punic War.
  The accuracy of Polybius's account has been much debated over the past 150 years, but the modern consensus is to accept it largely at face value, and the details of the war in modern sources are largely based on interpretations of Polybius's account. The modern historian Andrew Curry sees Polybius as being "fairly reliable"; while Craige Champion describes him as "a remarkably well-informed, industrious, and insightful historian".
  Other, later, ancient histories of the war exist, although often in fragmentary or summary form. Modern historians usually take into account the writings of various Roman annalists, some contemporary; the Sicilian Greek Diodorus Siculus; the later Roman historians, Livy (who relied heavily on Polybius), Plutarch, Appian (whose account of the Third Punic War is especially valuable) and Dio Cassius. The classicist Adrian Goldsworthy states "Polybius' account is usually to be preferred when it differs with any of our other accounts". Other sources include coins, inscriptions, archaeological evidence and empirical evidence from reconstructions such as the trireme Olympias.
caption: Polybius
exif: {}