Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica, in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, between 60 and 30 BC.
The history is arranged in three parts. The first covers mythic history up to the destruction of Troy, arranged geographically, describing regions around the world from Egypt, India and Arabia to Europe. The second covers the time from the Trojan War to the death of Alexander the Great. The third covers the period to about 60 BC. Bibliotheca, meaning 'library', acknowledges that he was drawing on the work of many other authors.
Life
According to his own work, he was born in
Agira in
Sicily (now called Agira).
[Diod. History 1.4.4.] With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about his life and doings beyond his written works. Only
Jerome, in his
Chronicon under the "year of
Abraham 1968" (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". However, his
English language translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence"
that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (
Inscriptiones Graecae XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius" (“
Διόδωρος ∙ Ἀπολλωνίου”) .
The final work attributed to him is from 21 BC.
Work
Diodorus' universal history, which he named
Bibliotheca historica (, "Historical Library"), was immense and consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive:
fragments of the lost books are preserved in Photius and the
Excerpts of
Constantine VII.
It was divided into three sections. The first section (books I–VI) deals with the mythic history of the non-Ancient Greece and Hellenic tribes up to the destruction of Troy and is geographical in theme, describing the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI).
The next section (books VII–XVII) recounts the history of the world from the Trojan War down to the death of Alexander the Great. The last section (books XVII to the end) concerns the historical events from the Diadochi down to either 60 BC or the beginning of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. The end has been lost, so it is unclear whether Diodorus reached the beginning of the Gallic War as he promises at the beginning of his work or, as evidence suggests, old and tired from his labours, he stopped short at 60 BC.
Diodorus selected the name "Bibliotheca" in acknowledgment that he was assembling a composite work from many sources. Identified authors on whose works he drew include Hecataeus of Abdera, Ctesias of Cnidus, Ephorus, Theopompus, Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, Diyllus, Philistus, Timaeus, Polybius, and Posidonius.
See also
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Acadine
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Callon of Epidaurus
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Diophantus of Abae
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Hellenic historiography
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Historic recurrence
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Pliny the Elder
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Strabo
Bibliography
Further reading
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Ambaglio, Delfino. 1995. La Biblioteca storica di Diodoro Siculo. Problemi e metodo. Como: Edizioni New Press.
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Braithwaite-Westoby, Kara. " Diodorus and the Alleged Revolts of 374–373 BCE," Classical Philology 115, no. 2 (April 2020): 265–270.
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Clarke, Katherine. 1999. "Universal perspectives in Historiography." In The Limits of Historiography: Genre and Narrative in Ancient Historical Texts. Edited by Christina Shuttleworth Kraus, 249–279. Mnemosyne. Supplementum 191. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
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Hammond, Nicholas G. L. 1998. "Portents, Prophecies, and Dreams in Diodorus' Books 14–17." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 39.4: 407–428.
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Hau, Lisa Irene, Alexander Meeus, and Brian Sheridan (eds.). 2018. Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Peeters: Leuven.
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Richard Laqueur. 1992. Diodors Geschichtswerk – Die Überlieferung von Buch I-V. Frankfurt am Main.
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McQueen, Earl I. 1995. Diodorus Siculus. The Reign of Philip II: The Greek and Macedonian Narrative from Book XVI. A Companion. London: Bristol Classical Press.
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Muntz, Charles E. 2017. Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Rathmann, Michael. 2016. Diodor und seine „Bibliotheke“. Weltgeschichte aus der Provinz. Berlin: de Gruyter, .
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Rubincam, Catherine. 1987. "The Organization and Composition of Diodorus' Bibliotheke." Échos du monde classique (= Classical views) 31:313–328.
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Sacks, Kenneth S. 1990. Diodorus Siculus and the First Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
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Sinclair, Robert K. 1963. "Diodorus Siculus and the Writing of History." Proceedings of the African Classical Association 6:36–45.
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Stronk, Jan P. 2017. Semiramis' Legacy. The History of Persia According to Diodorus of Sicily. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.
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Sulimani, Iris. 2008. "Diodorus' Source-Citations: A Turn in the Attitude of Ancient Authors Towards their Predecessors?" Athenaeum 96.2: 535–567.
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Wirth, Gerhard. 2007. Katastrophe und Zukunftshoffnung. Mutmaßungen zur zweiten Hälfte von Diodors Bibliothek und ihren verlorenen Büchern. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, .
External links
- Greek original works
- English translations
