Polybius: Book 8 - 9781009265881

Polybius: Book 8Author(s): G. O. Hutchinson\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781009265881, 978-1009265881\nSynopsis\nPolybius is one of the most remarkable ancient historians, excelling as source, theorist and writer. Book 8 shows many sides of this extraordinary author: the superb narrator, recounting the tragic end of the potentate Achaeus and Hannibal's diverting capture of Tarentum with the aid of wild boar; the technical writer on Archimedes' sensational machines for destroying Roman ships; the zestful polemicist, railing against Theopompus' diatribe on the friends of Philip II; the thinker about history and the interconnection of world events. This edition, the first of its kind, includes a new text of Book 8 and an introduction to the book and Polybius as a whole. The commentary provides a wealth of historical and archaeological material and will enable readers to understand Polybius' Helle.