Shadow of the Hand (Dark Side of Carthage Falls Book 3)

Dark Side of Carthage Falls Series

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Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? What starts out as an innocent birthday party and a sleepover, becomes a night of mystery with frightening revelations. And, the childish laughter of four rambunctious boys quietly descends into whispers, as young Kevin Lazarus recounts recent strange occurrences to his closet friends. Sitting in the dark of his bedroom, the fun suddenly ends when they all see something none of them will ever forget!

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Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Much better storyline than "The Basement" by same author and enjoyed the introduction as well. Glad I gave this author a second try and am looking forward to more of the "Dark Side of Carthage Falls" series. Loved the suspense and story line I rated it highly for that and respect the author berry much so I enjoyed the whole book like I was living it.

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. For earlier events, such as those of the First Punic War, Polybius relied heavily upon written sources, and was consequently unable to conduct his ideal kind of research. This is true also for Book 2, about half of which is devoted to third-century Greek events: Momigliano ; Vattuone He found both to be deficient in historical method.

Fabius, as a senatorial historian, exhibited a strong pro-Roman bias. Conversely, Philinus heavily favored the Carthaginian cause. Polybius does not accuse these writers of intentional falsehoods, but he warns that because of their patriotism and partiality they were rather like lovers, incapable of taking an unbiased position. He insists that the historian must not hesitate to accuse friends and praise enemies; to do otherwise is to betray his profession Histories, 1. But they also attest positively to his critical use of literary histories and independent judgment.

It is clear, however, that written testimony continued to be important even then. Fabius Pictor continued to be an important source for the second, as he was for the first war Histories, 3. Polybius does not regard other historians of the period so highly. Polybius also mentions some other Greek sources, many of whom seem to have been pro-Carthaginian. Most such are left unnamed. Modern scholars have attempted to identify some of these: A reference in Book 3 6.

This author possessed the credentials Polybius demanded of the historian: It is also likely that Polybius was familiar with the history of the senator Gaius Acilius FGrH , also writing in Greek; he certainly read that of Aulus Postumius Albinus FGrH , consul in , which he censures for its inelegant Greek and vapidity Histories, It is less certain that Polybius knew the Greek-language history of Publius Cornelius Scipio the son of Africanus , said by Cicero Brutus 77 to have been elegantly composed. For the same reason we cannot be confident that Polybius would have known the history of Lucius Cassius Hemina or any other Roman author writing in Latin Walbank All of these historians, however, would have been fairly fluent in spoken Greek and moved in political and social circles also frequented by Polybius.

In the case of Cato the Elder, Polybius and he were acquaintances, at the least. Cato arose in the chamber of the Senate and asked his fellow senators whether they had nothing better to do than discuss where some poor old Greeks were to be buried, in Italy or in Greece. The senators then decreed that the hostages should be allowed to return home.

This anecdote shows the thorough knowledge of Greek language and culture on the part of Roman senators even those like Cato who publicly warned of the dangers of Greek cultural productions cf. In Book 10 9.

Meanwhile, by far the most important documentary evidence for the war was found in the Roman public archives. Polybius demonstrates both his own consultation of these state documents and discussion of them with Roman authorities in his presentation of the history of Romano-Carthaginian treaty relations Histories, 3. It is on the basis of this research that Polybius adamantly denied the existence of the so- called Philinus Treaty, which supposedly dated to the late third century and recognized Sicily as a distinctly Carthaginian sphere of influence Histories, 3.

Among Roman public records Polybius had first-rate documentary evidence for embassies sent out and received by the Senate. Polybius also proudly reports his personal examination of an inscription on the Lacinian promontory, upon which Hannibal himself had recorded his manpower and troop formations Histories, 3. Moreover, he wrote near-contemporary history and valued eyewitness accounts and the cross-examination of participants in historical events more than written histories.

It must be admitted that he only sometimes mentions the historians he consulted and rarely indicates the manner in which he employed them or when he passes from one work to another. But the conventions of classical historiography did not require him to do so. By the standards of ancient historiography, we could not hope for a better source on the Punic Wars. The Punic Wars in the Structure of the Histories The Punic Wars are the main subject matter of the Histories and constitute the starting and ending points for the work in its final form.

In between, however, the organization is much less straightforward; Polybius determined the final structure of his history only as he worked through writing it over many years. His original plan was to begin with the th Olympiad , the period during which the Second Punic War began. However, at some point he decided that he must preface the history proper with two introductory books in order to cover the First Punic War, commencing with the th Olympiad and taking up the story from the point at which Timaeus left off.

Polybius eventually determined that he must extend the work in the other chronological direction as well, bringing the history down to events in which he was personally involved. Although Rome had completed its rise to mastery of the Mediterranean world with the victory at Pydna in with which the thirty-book edition was to have ended , subsequent events demanded the addition of ten books the ten-book extension presumably comprised Books , with Book 40 as a summary and table of contents, which would probably have stood as Book 30 in the book edition; see Walbank The result was a book series that opened with the First Punic War and closed with the year in which Rome finally destroyed Carthage.

Book 3 follows the Second Punic War down to the climactic battle at Cannae in Books treat separately the contemporary history of Greece and Asia Minor down to the end of the Social War in Greece Book 6 interrupts the historical narrative in order to provide an analysis of the Roman politeia, largely by way of comparison with other imperial states. In this book Polybius draws a lengthy comparison between the Roman and Carthaginian constitutions Histories, 6. But at the time of the Second Punic War, Polybius maintains, the Roman constitution was at its apogee, while the Carthaginian government was already in a state of decline due to the predominant influence assumed by the popular element Histories, 6.

Book 12 provides another break from the historical narrative in order to discuss correct historiographical practice. This was the period during which Rome established its hegemony over the Mediterranean world by virtue of its victory in the war against Hannibal.

Book 34 again interrupts the historical narrative, this time to discuss the state of geographical knowledge and its place in good historical writing. Book 3 is devoted exclusively to the first few years of the war and is the longest of the complete books containing pages in the Teubner text.

Polybius commonly devoted a single book to the coverage of half an Olympiad; that is, two years. With this detailed narrative, we could compare eight books, each containing the events of an entire and less climactic Olympiad: Reflecting these conditions, Polybius places strong emphasis on the period through the great narrative detail he employs in describing these struggles. The Punic Wars and Major Themes in the Histories For a long time scholars considered Polybius reliable and factual, but hardly creative; a writer who failed to imbue his history with sustained and consistent narrative themes.

This negative assessment has had proponents from antiquity to the modern period. For example, the ancient literary critic and historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus Comp. Moreover, in recent times many scholars have followed the lead of F. Recently, however, scholars have challenged this assessment, emphasizing instead the moral, didactic, and creative components of his thought and writing Eckstein ; Champion a. But he believed that the institutional structures of politeiai were not in themselves stable; the best organized states were still subject to deterioration as quasi-biological organisms, with life stages of growth, acme, decline, death, and transformation.

According to him, this success led to a political and moral peak at the time of the Second Punic War Histories, 6. This account seems to be deliberately vague, shifting the apparent responsibility for attacking Sicily to a meeting in the popular assembly in order to accord with his historiographical predilections Histories, 1. In keeping with his predetermined goal, Polybius presents Roman and Carthaginian fortitude and bravery throughout the narrative of the First Punic War. Military training and discipline are frequently shown to save the Romans in difficult circumstances e.

Meanwhile, as the long war of attrition against Carthage wore on, the public treasury was exhausted, but martial spirit alone sustained the Romans Histories, 1. In the final stages of this life and death struggle, when the fighting against Hamilcar Barca settled around the area of Mt. Eryx in Sicily, Polybius compares the two combatants to gamecocks, physically exhausted but with courage undaunted, striking blow after blow until one of them should die Histories, 1.

All in all, therefore, Polybius deliberately describes Roman political and military excellences in order to present Rome in a positive light Histories, 1.

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Both opponents emerge from the account as treacherous and unpredictable, in sharp contrast with Roman rational behavior and steadfast discipline. As for the Celts, the conflict with them at Telamon in is presented as an object lesson in the exercise of level-headed reason against unreasoning impulse and emotion, and Polybius likens the Roman victory to Greek heroics against barbarians in the Persian Wars and resistance to the Celtic attack on Delphi in Histories, 2.

This expansion into Spain is then the third and final cause of the war Histories, 3.

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Though he viewed Carthage as the aggressor, Polybius was full of praise for the superbly trained Carthaginian army under the leadership of its brilliant general. Hannibal displayed the same excellent generalship as his father had done in the final phases of the First Punic War Histories, 1. Hannibal carefully observed his enemy and calculated his options with shrewdness before taking any action Histories, 3. Cannae was the fiercest engagement of the war, it revealed the excellent qualities of the combatants, and it also showed the Roman system at its best in its response to devastating military defeat Histories, 3.

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