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Diodorus Siculus

 

Diodōrus Siculus, Sicilian Greek historian who wrote between c.60 and 30 BC a world history (Bibliothēkē historikē), centred on Rome, in forty books. Books 1–3 comprise the ancient legends of Asia and North Africa, books 4–6 those of Greece and Europe. All these books are fully preserved except for 6, which is fragmentary. Books 7–17 cover the period from the Trojan War to Alexander the Great; 7–10 survive in fragments, 11–17 are fully preserved. Books 18–40 cover the period from the Diadochoi (successors of Alexander) to Julius Caesar (54 BC); 18–20 are fully preserved, 21–40 survive in fragments. A complete copy is said to have perished in the sack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. The work is an uncritical compilation, and confused when Diodorus changes sources, but valuable for preserving the evidence of these sources: for example, his evidence is very important when, for the events in Greece around 400 BC he draws on the history of which Hellenica Oxyrhynchia is a part (see OXYRHYNCUS HISTORIAN). In the early books he is a useful source of mythological information. Concerning the gods his view is somewhat euhemerist (see EUHEMERUS).

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Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology:

Diodorus Siculus

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Greek historian who wrote a book called World history sometime between 60 bc and 30 bc. This account included descriptions of the Celts and the Gauls which were largely based on descriptions provided by earlier writers including Posidonius.

Sicilian-born classical historian (1st cent. BC), often cited for his commentaries on the Celts, especially the northern Gauls. His Bibliotheca Historica [Library of History] was a universal history, beginning with the earliest mythological times and running to the contemporary conquest of Gaul; of forty books thought to have been written, ten survive.

Bibliography

  • The Library of History, ed. and trans. C. H. Oldfather (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1935)
Columbia Encyclopedia:

Diodorus Siculus

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Diodorus Siculus (dīədôr'əs sĭk'yūləs), d. after 21 B.C., Sicilian historian. He wrote, in Greek, a world history in 40 books, ending with Caesar's Gallic Wars. Fully preserved are Books I-V and XI-XX, which cover Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Scythian, Arabian, and North African history and parts of Greek and Roman history. The history, which is a compilation of other sources, is often repetitive and contradictory. Historians generally regard it as uncritical and unreliable. It is valuable, however, as a source for the lost works of earlier authors, from whom he borrowed freely, and for his chronological lists of prominent figures from the 5th cent. to 302 B.C.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Diodorus Siculus

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Diodorus Siculus (Greek: Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης, Diodoros Sikeliotes) was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the "year of Abraham 1968" (i.e., 49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".

Contents

Work

Diodorus' universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive, and were divided into three sections. The first six books treat 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, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI).

Gold mining

His account of gold mining in Nubia in eastern Egypt is one of the earliest extant texts on the topic, and describes in vivid detail the use of slave labour in terrible working conditions.

In the next section (books VII–XVII), he 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 successors of Alexander 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 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, Ctesias of Cnidus, Ephorus, Theopompus, Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, Diyllus, Philistus, Timaeus, Polybius, and Posidonius.

References

  • Ambaglio, Dino, Franca Landucci Gattinoni and Luigi Bravi. Diodoro Siculo: Biblioteca storica: commento storico: introduzione generale. Storia. Ricerche. Milano: V&P, 2008. x, 145 p.
  • Buckley, Terry (1996). Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC: A Source-based Approach. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415099587, ISBN 9780415099585. 
  • Lloyd, Alan B. (1975). Herodotus, Book II. Leiden: Brill. pp. Introduction. ISBN 9004041796, ISBN 9789004041790. 
  • Siculus, Diodorus; Oldfather, C. H. (Translator) (1935). Library of History: Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press. 
  • Siculus, Diodorus; G. Booth (Translator); H. Valesius; I. Rhodomannus; F. Ursinus (1814). The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian in Fifteen Books to which are added the Fragments of Diodorus. London: J. Davis.  Downloadable Google Books.
  • Siculi, Diodori; Peter Wesseling (Editor); L. Rhodoman; G. Heyn; N. Eyring (1798) (in Ancient Greek, Latin). Bibliothecae Historicae Libri Qui Supersunt: Nova Editio. Argentorati: Societas Bipontina.  Downloadable Google Books.

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Related topics:
Galata
Classical commentators
Ephorus (Ancient Greek historian)

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Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Copyright © James MacKillop 1998, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Diodorus Siculus Read more

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