Polybium secuti sumus? Los desacuerdos respecto a la génesis de la Primera Guerra Macedónica en las Historias y Ab Vrbe Condita

Abstract

This article argues that the analysis of books 22/23 of Ab Vrbe Condita reveals no solid evidence to trace Livy's narrative about the First Macedonian War to the Histories, a series of books written by Polybius. Conversely, the analysis of book 24 reveals a chapter (24.40) that matches our knowledge about Livy's later adaptation of the Greek author’s style. However, this chapter also contains some important differences with what we know about later episodes in books 26-29 that also deal with the First Macedonian War. Moreover, the chapter in book 24 is isolated from other references to the war between books 23-25. For these reasons, is contended that, if Livy knew the Histories when writing thefirst pentad of thethird decade, he used them very little when dealing with theinitial movements of the First MacedonianWar (216-212 BC). This situation, in turn, has important implications for the study of the relationship between both authors in the problematic third decade