Editing Diodorus Siculus

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Short description|1st-century BC Greek historian}}
{{Redirect|Diodorus}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Diodorus Siculus
| native_name      = {{lang|grc-Grek|Διόδωρος|italic=no}}
| image = Diodoro siculo - storico di Agira.jpg
| caption = Diodorus Siculus as depicted in a 19th-century [[fresco]]
| birth_date = {{fl.}}&nbsp;1st century BC
| birth_place = [[Agira]], Sicily
| death_date = 
| language = [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]]
| genre = [[History]]
| notable_works = ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]''
}}

'''Diodorus Siculus''' or '''Diodorus of Sicily''' ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:Διόδωρος|Διόδωρος]]|Diódōros}}; {{fl.}}&nbsp;1st century BC) was an [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[historian]] from [[Sicily]]. He is known for writing the monumental [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact,{{sfn|Usher|1969|p=235}} 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|Agyrium]] in [[Sicily]] (now called Agira).<ref>Diod. ''History'' 1.4.4.</ref> With one exception, [[classical antiquity|antiquity]] affords no further information about his life and doings beyond his written works. Only [[Jerome]], in his ''[[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]'' under the "year of [[Abraham]] 1968" (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". However, his [[English language|English]] translator, [[Charles Henry Oldfather]], remarks on the "striking coincidence"<ref>{{cite book |title=Diodorus of Sicily In Twelve Volumes |author-link=Charles Henry Oldfather |first=Charles Henry |last=Oldfather |year=1977 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> 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''”) .<ref>{{cite book |title=Ctesias' Persian History: Introduction, text, and translation by Ctesias |first=Jan P. |last=Stronk |year=2010 |page=60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=IG XIV 588 - PHI Greek Inscriptions |url=https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/140915?&bookid=26&location=1686 |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=epigraphy.packhum.org}}</ref> The final work attributed to him is from 21 BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diodorus-Siculus |title= Diodorus Siculus - Greek historian |accessdate= July 13, 2023}}</ref>

==Work==
{{Main|Bibliotheca historica}}
[[File:Bibliotheca historica.tif|thumb|''Bibliotheca historica'', 1746]]

Diodorus' [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]], which he named ''Bibliotheca historica'' ({{langx|grc|Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική}}, "Historical Library"), was immense and consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive:<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/164108/Diodorus-Siculus |title=Diodorus Siculus |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=4 April 2018 }}</ref> fragments of the lost books are preserved in [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]] and the ''[[Constantinian Excerpts|Excerpts]]'' of [[Constantine VII|Constantine Porphyrogenitus]].

It was divided into three sections. The first section (books I&ndash;VI) deals with the mythic history of the non-[[Ancient Greece|Hellenic]] 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&ndash;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|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 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 (historian)|Timaeus]], [[Polybius]], and [[Posidonius]].

==See also==
* [[Acadine]]
* [[Callon of Epidaurus]]
* [[Diophantus of Abae]]
* [[Hellenic historiography]]
* [[Historic recurrence]]
* [[Pliny the Elder]]
* [[Strabo]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last1=Ambaglio |first1=Dino |first2=Franca |last2=Landucci Gattinoni |first3=Luigi |last3=Bravi |title=Diodoro Siculo: Biblioteca storica: commento storico: introduzione generale. Storia. Ricerche |location=Milano |publisher=V&P |year=2008 |pages=x, 145 |isbn=9788834315842 |language=it}}
* {{cite book |title=Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC: A Source-based Approach |first=Terry |last=Buckley |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=0-415-09958-7 |location=London}}
* {{cite book |author=Diodorus Siculus |title=Library of History: Loeb Classical Library |translator=Oldfather, C. H. |location=Cambridge, MA. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1935}}
* {{cite book |title=The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian in Fifteen Books to which are added the Fragments of Diodorus |author=Diodorus Siculus |translator=G. Booth |author2=H. Valesius |author3=I. Rhodomannus |author4=F. Ursinus |year=1814 |location=London |publisher=J. Davis  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agd-eLVNRMMC |via=Google Books}}
* {{cite book |author=Diodori Siculi |title=Bibliothecae Historicae Libri Qui Supersunt: Nova Editio |editor1=Peter Wesseling |editor2=L. Rhodoman |editor3=G. Heyn |editor4=N. Eyring |location=Argentorati |year=1798 |publisher=Societas Bipontina |language=grc, la |url=https://archive.org/details/bibliothecaehist08diod |via=Internet Archive}}
* {{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Usher |title=The Historians of Greece and Rome |location=London |year=1969 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |isbn=0-2410-1527-8}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Diodorus Siculus |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* Ambaglio, Delfino. 1995. ''La Biblioteca storica di Diodoro Siculo. Problemi e metodo.'' Como: Edizioni New Press.
* Braithwaite-Westoby, Kara. "[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/707724 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.
* [[Richard Laqueur|Laqueur, Richard]]. 1992. ''Diodors Geschichtswerk – Die Überlieferung von Buch I-V.'' Frankfurt am Main.
* 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.
* Rathmann, Michael. 2016. ''Diodor und seine „Bibliotheke“. Weltgeschichte aus der Provinz.'' Berlin: de Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-048144-0}}.
* 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.
* Wirth, Gerhard. 2007. ''Katastrophe und Zukunftshoffnung. Mutmaßungen zur zweiten Hälfte von Diodors Bibliothek und ihren verlorenen Büchern.'' Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, {{ISBN|978-3-7001-3723-8}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{wikisourcelang|el|Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης|Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης}}
{{Wikiquote}}
; Greek original works
* {{Wikisourcelang-inline|el|Ιστορική Βιβλιοθήκη|Ιστορική Βιβλιοθήκη}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0540
|author=Diodorus Siculus|language=grc|title=Library|publisher=Perseus Digital Library|at=Books 1–5 only|access-date=6 September 2017}}
* {{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html|title=The Library of History|language=grc|publisher=LacusCurtius|at=Books 6–10 only|access-date=6 September 2017}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0083|author=Diodorus Siculus|language=grc|title=Library|publisher=Perseus Digital Library|at=Books 9–17 only|access-date=6 September 2017}}

; English translations
* {{Gutenberg author|id=44254}}
* {{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html|title=The Library of History|publisher=LacusCurtius|author=Diodorus Siculus|translator1=C. H. Oldfather|translator2=C. L. Sherman|translator3=C. Bradford Welles|translator4=Russel M. Geer|translator5=F. R. Walton|at=Books 1–32 only|access-date=25 June 2017}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html|author=Diodorus Siculus|title=Library|translator=C. H. Oldfather|at=Books 4–6 only|publisher=Theoi E-Texts Library|access-date=8 October 2008}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0084|title=Library|author=Diodorus Siculus|translator=C. H. Oldfather|at=Books 9–17 only|publisher=Perseus Digital Library|access-date=25 June 2017}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/info/diodorus.html|title=Historical Library|publisher=Attalus.org|author=Diodorus Siculus|translator=Andrew Smith|at=Books 33–40 only|access-date=7 February 2014}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diodorus Siculus}}
[[Category:1st-century BC Greek writers]]
[[Category:1st-century BC historians]]
[[Category:30s BC deaths]]
[[Category:90s BC births]]
[[Category:Classical geography]]
[[Category:Hellenistic-era historians]]
[[Category:Historians from Magna Graecia]]
[[Category:Sicilian Greeks]]
[[Category:Works about mining]]
[[Category:Historians of Phoenicia]]