DIODORUS SICULUS

This article appears in Volume V08, Page 281 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: DEM-DIO

DIODORUS SICULUS , Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily, lived in the times of Julius Caesar and

Augustus

AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)

. From his own statements we learn that he travelled in Egypt between 6057 B.C. and that he spent several years in Rome. The latest event mentioned by him belongs to the year 21 B.C. He asserts that he devoted thirty years to the composition of his history, and that he undertook frequent and dangerous journeys in prosecution of his historical researches. These assertions, however, find little credit with

recent

RECENT

critics. The history, to which Diodorus gave the name 0OXuOitxrt iaropuci (Bibliotheca historica, " Historical Library "), consisted of

forty

FORTY

books, and was divided into three parts. The first treats of the mythic history of the non-Hellenic, and afterwards of the Hellenic tribes, to the destruction of Troy; the second section ends with Alexander's death; and the third continues the history as far as the beginning of Caesar's Gallic War. Of this extensive work there are still extant only the first five books, treating of the mythic history of the Egyptians,
Assyrians, Ethiopians and Greeks; and also the firth to the loth books inclusive, beginning with the second Persian War, and ending with the history of the successors of Alexander, previous to the

partition

PARTITION

of the Macedonian empire (302). The rest exists only in fragments preserved in Photius and the excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The faults of Diodorus arise partly from the nature of the undertaking, and the awkward form of annals into which he has thrown the historical portion of his narrative. He shows none of the

critical

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

faculties of the historian, merely setting down a number of unconnected details. His narrative contains frequent repetitions and contradictions, is without colouring, and monotonous; and his simple diction, which stands intermediate between pure Attic and the colloquial Greek of his time, enables us to detect in the narrative the undigested fragments of the materials which he employed. In spite of its defects, however, the Bibliotheca is of considerable value as to some extent supplying the loss of the works of older authors, from which it is compiled. Unfortunately, Diodorus does not always quote his authorities, but his general sources of information werein history and chronology, Castor, Ephorus and Apollodorus; in geography, Agatharchides and

Artemidorus

ARTEMIDORUS

. In

special

SPECIAL

sections he followed

special

SPECIAL

authoritiese.g. in the history of his native Sicily, Philistus and Timaeus.
Editio princeps, by H. Stephanus (1559); of other editions the best are: P. Wesseling (1746), not yet superseded; L. Dindorf (18281831) ; (text) L. Dindorf (18661868, revised by F. Vogel, 18881893 and C. T. Fischer, 1905-1906). The standard works on the sources of Diodorus are C. G. Heyne, De fontibus et auctoribus historiarum Diodori, printed in Dindorf's edition, and C. A. Volquardsen, Die Quellen der griechischen and sicilischen Geschichten bei Diodor (1868); A. von

Mess

MESS (an adaptation of O. Fr. mes, mod. mets; Ital. messo; derived from the
Late
- LATE
Lat. missum, past participle of mittere " to send or place in position ")

, Rheinisches Museum (1906); see also L. O.

Brucker

BRUCKER, JOHANN JAKOB (1696—1770)

, Untersuchungen fiber Diodor (1879), short, but containing much information; O. Maass, Kleitarch and Diodor (1894- ); G. J. Schneider, De Diodori fontibus, i.-iv. (1880); C. Wachsmuth, Einleitung in dos Studium der alien Geschichte (1895) ; GREECE: Ancient History, "Authorities."

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