Polybius, Aratus, and the History of the 140th Olympiad

This chapter reassesses Polybius' claim that he was a continuator of the memoirs of Aratus of Sicyon, which ended at the end of the 139th Olympiad in August 220 BC. Examination of Polybius' narrative of Achaean affairs and the Social War in Greece in the years that followed 220 in fact reveals a complexity of source material. This is evident, for example, in Polybius' puzzling narrative of two Aetolian invasions in the campaigning season of 220 BC; the two invasions are better seen as a doublet reflecting the accounts of a single Aetolian invasion given by two separate sources. Likewise, the presence of extensive pro-Aratean material in the period beginning with the winter solstice of 219 BC suggests that Polybius may well have been using unpublished material written by Aratus for this section of his narrative.

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