폴리비우스의 역사해석 － 『역사』 6권의 ‘아나키클로시스’(ανακύκλωσις)를 중심으로 －

Abstract

The Aim of this paper is threefold: First, what are the peculiar characteristics of Polybius’ Histories? Second, what is the meaning of the keyword ανακύκλωσις and why the word was adopted as the core idea in book 6. Third, and are there any ingenious or original viewpoints in the Polybian historiography, using the words like ανακύκλωσις? The theory of ανακύκλωσις was completed by Polybius for the first time. But it was derived from traditional Greek thought for long-time, and seems to be originated directly from the popular philosophy of the Hellenistic era. The idea of ‘Mixed Political System’ also seems to be originated from the long-time ‘ancient’ thoughts. Although Polybius' historiography and terms must be due to the contemporary thoughts of his own age and was well-known ‘frame of reference’ at that time, it must be Polybius himself who tried to solve the question, why the new ‘Ruler of the World’(κύριοι τήςοικούμένης) succeeded and what the future of it would be? In that respect, there must be a new viewpoint and a new methodology in Poybian historiography, especially in book 6. On the rethinking of the meaning of the well-known theory ανακύκλωσις, it’s the contribution of Polybius himself who makes a new interpretation on the realities of the new world ruler and on the peculiarity of its political system. I can not help speaking how widespread his ideas and methodologies were affecting his contemporaries and the generations to come. For example, Cicero wrote De Re Publica and there he described the Roman polity as the idealistic mixed system under the influence of the Histories. Moreover, the modern political thoughts of power-dispersion and the check-and- balance system must be originated from Polybius. Montesquieu wrote l’Esprit de Loi and built the ‘Three Split Theory’ of the national power, inspired by the ‘check and balance’ of the Roman political systems. In addition to that, the Polybian influence to the constitutional fathers of the United States of America was de facto παραδοξος which was the expression he favored for the case of ‘accidents of the unthinkable’. ‘Three Split Theory’ and the case of the American constitution may be his own παραδοξος, according to his own favorite expression.