ABSTRACT
Since Davidson’s seminal 1991 paper,1 the crucial role of perception and visuality in Polybius’ narrative has been generally acknowledged. Davidson’s discussion has greatly furthered our understanding of the role of these two concepts in individual passages of the Histories, with particular reference to battle scenes.2 But visuality, I shall argue in this paper, is a crucial element of Polybius’ narrative also at a much more fundamental level, with implications far beyond Polybius’ account of individual episodes and events of the past: visuality is closely integrated with Polybius’ concept of truth and of his narrative as the only available ‘true’ representation of the development of Roman power. The close connection with truth, in turn, relates visuality to another core concept of Polybius’ historical thought, the ‘usefulness’ of his account for political and military leaders (ἄνδρες πραγματικοί / andres pragmatikoi).
