Frank William Walbank (1909–2008) was one of the most eminent British historians of ancient civilization and its culture in the second half of the Twentieth and at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century. As an investigator he belonged... more
Frank William Walbank (1909–2008) was one of the most eminent British historians of ancient civilization and its culture in the second half of the Twentieth and at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century. As an investigator he belonged to the Cambridge school of ancient studies. Only one part of F. W. Walbank’s work is briefly examined in this paper that is his interpretation of Polybius’ “Histories” as a main narrative source on the Hellenistic and Roman history from 264 to 146 B. C. His monumental “Historical Commentary on Polybius” in three volumes (1957–1979) resulted from more than thirty years of detailed and careful research of the historical and historiographical problems raised in Polybius’ work. Alongside the Büttner-Wobst text and A. Mauersberger’s “Polybios-Lexikon”, F. W. Walbank’s “Commentary” is now an indispensable base for everyone who studies various aspects of Polybius’ text. Writing a commentary culminated in his Sather Lectures on Polybius (1972) which is the best introductory study on the famous Greek historian, his work and his concept of history.
