The Roman Army… But what Kind of? On the Reliability of Polybios’ Observations about the Organization of Exercitus Romanus
Abstract
In the common opinion of the classicists Polybios’ Historiae are considered to be an extremely reliable source for the reconstruction of the Republican Roman army organization. The problem is he did not have the declared military experience, but also did not always describe what he actually saw. In the sixth book of Historiae there are some ideal-type suggestions which are the legacy of a specific literary genre called tactica. Polybios was one of the authors of this kind of military treaties. What is more, in the other fragments of his work he committed an archaization, presenting the image of the Roman armed forces probably from the fourth century BC. All this makes that uncritical taking of his arguments may lead to distortions in the image of the studied subject.
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