Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre,
Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
. 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
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
, arranged geographically, describing regions around the world from Egypt, India and Arabia to Europe. The second covers the time from the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
to the
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
. 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
Agyrium
''Agyrium'' is a genus of saprophytic fungi in the family Agyriaceae. It probably evolved from a lichen ancestor, as it is closely related to many lichenized species of fungi.
Taxonomy
''Agyrium'' was first proposed by Elias Magnus Fries in h ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
(now called Agira). With one exception,
antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
affords no further information about his life and doings beyond his written works. Only
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
, in his ''
Chronicon'' under the "year of
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
1968" (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". However, his
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
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".
Work
Diodorus'
universal history, which he named ''Bibliotheca historica'' ( grc-gre, Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, "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 Porphyrogenitus.
It was divided into three sections. The first six books treated the mythic history of the non-
Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of
Ancient Egypt (book I), of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Scythia
Scythia ( Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
...
, and
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
(II), of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
(III), and of
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
and Europe (IV–VI).
In the next section (books VII–XVII), he recounts the history of the world from the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
down to the
death of Alexander the Great. The last section (books XVII to the end) concerns the historical events from the
successors of Alexander down to either 60 BC or the beginning of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
's
Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...
. (The end has been lost, so it is unclear whether Diodorus reached the beginning of the Gallic War as he promised at the beginning of his work or, as evidence suggests, old and tired from his labours he stopped short at 60 BC.) He 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 :''See Hecataeus of Miletus for the earlier historian.''
Hecataeus of Abdera or of Teos ( el, Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης), was a Greek historian and Pyrrhonist philosopher who flourished in the 4th century BC.
Life
Diogenes La� ...
,
Ctesias of Cnidus,
Ephorus,
Theopompus,
Hieronymus of Cardia,
Duris of Samos
Duris of Samos (or Douris) ( grc-gre, Δοῦρις ὁ Σάμιος; BCafter 281BC) was a Greek historian and was at some period tyrant of Samos. Duris was the author of a narrative history of events in Greece and Macedonia from 371BC to 281BC ...
,
Diyllus
Diyllus ( grc-gre, Δίυλλος), probably the son of Phanodemus the Atthidographer (a chronicler of the local history of Athens and Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a ...
,
Philistus
Philistus ( grc-gre, Φίλιστος; c. 432 – 356 BC), son of Archomenidas, was a Greek historian from Sicily. Life
Philistus was born in Syracuse around the time the Peloponnesian War began. He was a faithful supporter of the elder Diony ...
,
Timaeus,
Polybius
Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail.
Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...
, and
Posidonius.
See also
*
Acadine
*
Callon of Epidaurus Callon (born Callo) was an intersex person, who may have been a priestess and lived in the second century BC. The medical treatment he underwent is the first recorded example of gender affirmation surgery. His life is known from the works of Diodor ...
*
Diophantus of Abae
*
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
*
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
Citations
General and cited references
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*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Braithwaite-Westoby, Kara.
Diodorus and the Alleged Revolts of 374–373 BCE" Classical Philology 115, no. 2 (April 2020): 265–270.
* 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.
* Hammond, Nicholas G. L. 1998. "Portents, Prophecies, and Dreams in Diodorus' Books 14–17." ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 39.4: 407–428.
* Hau, Lisa Irene, Alexander Meeus, and Brian Sheridan (eds.). 2018. ''Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke.'' Peeters: Leuven.
* 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.
* Muntz, Charles E. 2017. ''Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic.'' New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
* Pfuntner, Laura. 2015. "Reading Diodorus through Photius: The Case of the Sicilian Slave Revolts." ''Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies'' 55.1: 256–272.
* Rubincam, Catherine. 1987. "The Organization and Composition of Diodorus' Bibliotheke." ''Échos du monde classique (= Classical views)'' 31:313–328.
* Sacks, Kenneth S. 1990. ''Diodorus Siculus and the First Century.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
* Sinclair, Robert K. 1963. "Diodorus Siculus and the Writing of History." ''Proceedings of the African Classical Association'' 6:36–45.
* Stronk, Jan P. 2017. ''Semiramis' Legacy. The History of Persia According to Diodorus of Sicily.'' Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.
* Sulimani, Iris. 2008. "Diodorus' Source-Citations: A Turn in the Attitude of Ancient Authors Towards their Predecessors?" ''Athenaeum'' 96.2: 535–567.
External links
; Greek original works
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; English translations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diodorus Siculus
1st-century BC Greek people
1st-century BC historians
30s BC deaths
90s BC births
Classical geography
Hellenistic-era historians
Historians from Magna Graecia
Roman-era Greek historians
Sicilian Greeks
Works about mining