We warmly invite you to the next talk in our 2015 Classics Seminar Series.  After the talk, informal discussion will continue over light refreshments in the ANU Classics Museum.

‘Polybius (c. 200-118 BC), author of the 40-book Histories documenting Rome’s rise to world power, is a notoriously combative historian, gleefully attacking his fellow historians for their moral failings and intellectual crimes, and their works for their misleading errors and grave distortions. Despite his general abrasiveness, however, Polybius occasionally praises some of these same historians for their rigour and accuracy, in addition to sometimes being guilty himself of some of the same misdemeanours he finds fault with in others. This paper aims to assess Polybius’ quality and reliability as a writer of history on his own terms, that is, according to the strict standards he sets for other historians, with the ultimate aim of determining whether his Histories marks a return to the high historiographical standards set by Polybius’ famous predecessor Thucydides.’

Dr Paul Burton is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History with the Centre for Classical Studies