Bibliography
| Title: Problems of the Second Punic War Secondary Title: The Journal of Roman Studies Volume: 3, Part 2. Pages: 175-196 Type: Journal Article Year: 1913 Abstract: Part I "The Prelude to the War." Part II "Polybius as a Geographer."
Reid questions some of the criticism directed at Livy's account of the Second Punic War, and notes that Polybius commits all the errors he condemns in other historians. Rome's casus belli for the 2nd Punic War is manufactured, a problem that increases from one author to the next. Polybius's geographical knowledge is confined to pockets of familiarity reached by sea, or on the edges of familiar territory with vagueness in between. Reid argues Polybius was more reliant on Roman sources than those that are sympathetic to Carthage, and that many more sources existed (of either tradition) than are now known. Analysis of P.'s account of the beginnings of the Second Punic War follows, with above points in mind. Keywords: Saguntum; Hannibal; Second Punic War; sources; geography |