Genre
History
Setting and Context
Rome, Asia, and Greece between 264 B.C and 146 B.C.
Narrator and Point of View
Polybius is the narrator
Tone and Mood
Captivating, conclusive, and adulatory
Protagonist and Antagonist
Rome is the protagonist. Carthaginians are the antagonists.
Major Conflict
Rome’s expedition of expanding its territories and taking over the world
Climax
Rome's glorious conquest of Carthage
Foreshadowing
Polybius draws upon flashbacks in the construction of Rome’s history of triumph.
Understatement
Polybius understates the potency of ‘specialized reports’ by arguing that they are not absolute truths; hence cannot represent actual history.
Allusions
Historical allusions dominate Polybius' accounts. Polybius employs religious allusions too.
Imagery
The Punic Wars were contributory in Rome's spreading out as it came out victorious. Thus, wars and imperial expansions are intertwined.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
The titles of the book chapter follow an analogous, parallel structure.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
'The throne' denotes power.
Personification
N/A
