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DIODORUS SICULUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 281 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIODORUS SICULUS , See also:

Greek historian, See also:born at Agyrium in See also:Sicily, lived in the times of See also:Julius See also:Caesar and See also:Augustus. From his own statements we learn that he travelled in See also:Egypt between 60–57 B.C. and that he spent several years in See also:Rome. The latest event mentioned by him belongs to the See also:year 21 B.C. He asserts that he devoted See also:thirty years to the See also:composition of his See also:history, and that he undertook frequent and dangerous journeys in See also:prosecution of his See also:historical researches. These assertions, however, find little See also:credit with See also:recent critics. The history, to which Diodorus gave the name 0OXuOitxrt iaropuci (Bibliotheca historica, " Historical Library "), consisted of See also: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 See also:Troy; the second See also:section ends with See also:Alexander's See also:death; and the third continues the history as far as the beginning of Caesar's Gallic See also:War. Of this extensive See also: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 See also:firth to the loth books inclusive, beginning with the second See also:Persian War, and ending with the history of the successors of Alexander, previous to the See also:partition of the Macedonian See also:empire (302). The See also:rest exists only in fragments preserved in See also:Photius and the excerpts of See also:Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The faults of Diodorus arise partly from the nature of the undertaking, and the awkward See also:form of See also:annals into which he has thrown the historical portion of his narrative. He shows none of the See also:critical 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 See also:simple diction, which stands intermediate between pure See also:Attic and the colloquial Greek of his See also: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 See also:

works of older authors, from which it is compiled. Unfortunately, Diodorus does not always quote his authorities, but his See also:general See also:sources of See also:information were—in history and See also:chronology, See also:Castor, See also:Ephorus and See also:Apollodorus; in See also:geography, See also:Agatharchides and See also:Artemidorus. In See also:special sections he followed special authorities—e.g. in the history of his native Sicily, See also:Philistus and See also:Timaeus. Editio princeps, by H. Stephanus (1559); of other See also:editions the best are: P. Wesseling (1746), not yet superseded; L. See also:Dindorf (1828–1831) ; (See also:text) L. Dindorf (1866–1868, revised by F. See also:Vogel, 1888–1893 and C. T. See also:Fischer, 1905-1906). The See also:standard works on the sources of Diodorus are C.

G. See also:

Heyne, De fontibus et auctoribus historiarum Diodori, printed in Dindorf's edition, and C. A. Volquardsen, See also:Die Quellen der griechischen and sicilischen Geschichten bei Diodor (1868); A. von See also:Mess, Rheinisches Museum (1906); see also L. O. See also:Brucker, Untersuchungen fiber Diodor (1879), See also:short, but containing much information; O. Maass, Kleitarch and Diodor (1894- ); G. J. See also:Schneider, De Diodori fontibus, i.-iv. (1880); C.

End of Article: DIODORUS SICULUS

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