Editing Battle of Zama (section)

==Primary sources==
[[File:Stele des Polybios.jpg|thumb|upright=0.45|alt=A monochrome relief stele depicting a man in classical Greek clothing raising one arm|{{center|Polybius}}|left]]

The main source for almost every aspect of the Punic Wars{{#tag:ref|The term ''Punic'' comes from the [[Latin]] word ''Punicus'' (or ''Poenicus''), meaning "[[History of Carthage|Carthaginian]]" and is a reference to the Carthaginians' [[Phoenicia]]n ancestry.{{sfn|Sidwell|Jones|1998|p=16}}|group=note}} is the historian [[Polybius]] ({{circa|200}} – {{circa|118 BC}}), a Greek sent to Rome in 167{{nbs}}BC as a hostage.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}} His works include a now largely lost manual on military tactics,{{sfn|Shutt|1938|p=53}} but he is best known for [[The Histories (Polybius)|''The Histories'']], written sometime after 146{{nbs}}BC.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Walbank|1990|pp=11–12}} Polybius's work is considered broadly objective and largely neutral as between [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] and [[Roman Republic|Roman]] points of view.{{sfn|Lazenby|1996|pp=x–xi}}{{sfn|Hau|2016|pp=23–24}} Polybius was an analytical historian and wherever possible interviewed participants, from both sides, in the events he wrote about.{{sfn|Shutt|1938|p=55}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Champion|2015|pp=98, 101}}

The accuracy of Polybius's account has been much debated over the past 150 years. Modern historians consider Polybius to have treated the relatives of [[Scipio Aemilianus]], his patron and friend, unduly favourably but the consensus is to accept his account largely at face value and the details of the wars in modern sources are largely based on interpretations of Polybius's account.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Lazenby|1996|pp=x–xi, 82–84}} The modern historian Andrew Curry sees Polybius as being "fairly reliable";{{sfn|Curry|2012|p=34}} [[Craige B. Champion|Craige Champion]] describes him as "a remarkably well-informed, industrious, and insightful historian".{{sfn|Champion|2015|p=102}} Much of Polybius's account of the Second Punic War is missing, or only exists in fragmentary form.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=87}}

The account of the Roman historian [[Livy]], who relied heavily on Polybius, is used by modern historians where Polybius's account is not extant.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=87}}{{sfn|Champion|2015|p=95}} The classicist [[Adrian Goldsworthy]] says Livy's "reliability is often suspect",{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=222}} and the historian [[Philip Sabin]] refers to Livy's "military ignorance".{{sfn|Sabin|1996|p=62}} Dexter Hoyos describes Livy's account of Zama as "bizarrely at odds with Polybius’ which he seems not to understand fully".{{sfn|Hoyos|2015|p=3}}

Other, later, ancient histories of the war exist, although often in fragmentary or summary form.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=21–23}}{{#tag:ref|Sources other than Polybius are discussed by Bernard Mineo in "Principal Literary Sources for the Punic Wars (apart from Polybius)".{{sfn|Mineo|2015|pp=111–127}}|group=note}} Modern historians usually take into account the writings of [[Appian]] and [[Cassius Dio]], two Greek authors writing during the [[Greece in the Roman era|Roman era]]; they are described by John Lazenby as "clearly far inferior" to Livy. Hoyos accuses Appian of bizarre invention in his account of Zama; Michael Taylor states that it is "idiosyncratic". But some fragments of Polybius can be recovered from their texts.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=87}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=312}} The Greek moralist [[Plutarch]] wrote several biographies of Roman commanders in his ''[[Parallel Lives]]''.{{sfn|Mineo|2015|pp=111–127}}{{sfn|Hoyos|2015|p=3}} Other sources include coins, inscriptions, archaeological evidence and empirical evidence from reconstructions such as the [[trireme]] [[Olympias (trireme)|''Olympias'']].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=23, 98}}