| Introduction | 11 |
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| 1 Well begun is half done | 16 |
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| 1.1 The proem (1.1–5) | 17 |
| 1.2 The Romans’ first crossing into Sicily (1.6–12) | 23 |
| 1.2.1 Where to begin | 23 |
| 1.2.2 Rhegium and Messana: The issue of mercenaries | 28 |
| 1.2.3 The intervention of Rome | 31 |
| 2 The narrative of the prokataskeue | 40 |
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| 2.1 The First Punic War (1.13–63) | 40 |
| 2.1.1 The theme of naval supremacy | 42 |
| 2.1.2 The story of Hannibal the ‘Rhodian’ (1.46–47) as Mise en Abyme | 47 |
| 2.1.3 Romans and Carthaginians | 49 |
| 2.2 The Roman Wars against the Illyrians (2.2–12) and the Gauls (2.14–35) | 57 |
| 3 Temporal strategies | 68 |
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| 3.1 Synchronicity | 68 |
| 3.2 The interlace structure of book 3 | 74 |
| 3.2.1 Spain and Illyria (3.13–34) | 75 |
| 3.2.1.1 The Romans’ strategic error | 75 |
| 3.2.1.2 Hannibal | 78 |
| 3.2.2 Hannibal’s march on Italy (3.35–3.57.1) | 80 |
| 3.3 Order | 84 |
| 3.3.1 Analepses | 84 |
| 3.3.2 Prolepses | 89 |
| 4 Focalization and interpretation | 94 |
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| 4.1 The theatre of war | 97 |
| 4.2 The attribution of motives | 102 |
| 4.3 The Carthaginians in Italy (3.69–117) | 109 |
| 4.4 The Romans in Africa (14.1–15.9) | 116 |
| 5 The Polybian narrator | 125 |
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| 5.1 The primary narrator | 126 |
| 5.1.1 The narrator as writer | 127 |
| 5.1.2 The narrator as historian | 130 |
| 5.1.3 The narrator as critic | 135 |
| 5.2 Polybius as a character | 142 |
| 5.3 Narratees | 150 |
| Conclusions | 157 |
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| Bibliography | 160 |
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| Index Locorum | 169 |
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| General Index | 179 |
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