POLYBIUS AND HISTORY: Polybius: Experience and the Lessons of History. (Historiography of Rome and Its Empire 6.) Pp. xii + 168. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020. Cased, €94, US$113. ISBN: 978-90-04-42611-5

M.'s belief, which emerges from the beginning of the book, is that this inconsistency is just apparent and that Polybius truly synthesised these concepts, where experience, the study of history and what he called ‘scientific study’ contribute to the formation of the ideal ‘man in action’ (pragmatikos anēr) and lay the foundations to explain Rome's ultimate success in her Mediterranean expansion. While Hannibal's epic adventure substantiates the importance that practical experience could play in guaranteeing extraordinary successes, Scipio witnesses the explosive combination generated when this experience is accompanied by the study of history. [...]in the ‘Conclusions’ M. sums up the results and sets Polybius within contemporary Roman debates on the value of history and practical experiences.