Bret Devereaux

Thanks, I shall have a listen

Livy reports this detail as well (Liv. 33.46.4) but Livy is almost certainly using Polybius as his source, so this doesn't provide independent confirmation.

I’m just wondering if a Carthaginian soldier is potentially already familiar with a thureos is it such a big step to then use a Roman scutum?

It's a bigger shield, but I wonder what Polybius here means by 'in the Roman manner' (εἰς τὸν Ῥωμαϊκὸν τρόπον). One might parallel Plb. 30.25.3, the Seleucid military parade at Daphne.

There, the parade is led by troops "Equipped in Roman style, armored in mail coats" which might suggest that Polybius has armor, as much as shields and weapons, in mind when he thinks about troops being (re)equipped in Roman style.

Yes, that’s entirely possible. It’s a shame they’re not really mentioned again or else they’re standard troops reequipped with mail and that’s why they seem to disappear as we’re looking for Roman style tactics but it’s purely a change in body armour not function?

The extent and evidence for Roman-style 'military reform' in Hellenistic armies is an active area of debate. You want to read N. Sekunda, Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160's BC (2006), but also note C. Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt (2014) for a retort.