Pragmatic / Universal History

Polybius (2nd c. BCE) championed 'pragmatic history' (pragmatike historia) — practical political and military history that explains how scattered events lock together, written to instruct statesmen and generals rather than to entertain. His theme of symploke, the 'interweaving' of Mediterranean affairs after Rome's rise, turned his work into a universal history; Diodorus Siculus (1st c. BCE) later pursued a kindred all-encompassing narrative. Together they set the model for history as a practical, cause-driven, world-scale account.

Where to read it

• Fragments & Testimonia150 BCE

  Polybius· Megalopolis
• On Oratory55 BCE

  Cicero· Formiae