Diodorus Siculus, Books 11-12.37.1
Diodorus Siculus, Books 11-12.37.1: Greek History, 480-431 BC--the Alternative Version
DIODORUS SICULUS
Translated, with Introduction and Commentary, by Peter Green
Copyright Date: 2006
Published by: University of Texas Press
https://doi.org/10.7560/706040
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/706040
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Book Info
Diodorus Siculus, Books 11-12.37.1
Book Description:

Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus (ca. 100-30 BCE) is our only surviving source for a continuous narrative of Greek history from Xerxes' invasion to the Wars of the Successors following the death of Alexander the Great. Yet this important historian has been consistently denigrated as a mere copyist who slavishly reproduced the works of earlier historians without understanding what he was writing. By contrast, in this iconoclastic work Peter Green builds a convincing case for Diodorus' merits as a historian. Through a fresh English translation of a key portion of his multi-volume history (the so-called Bibliotheke, or "Library") and a commentary and notes that refute earlier assessments of Diodorus, Green offers a fairer, better balanced estimate of this much-maligned historian.

The portion of Diodorus' history translated here covers the period 480-431 BCE, from the Persian invasion of Greece to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. This half-century, known as the Pentekontaetia, was the Golden Age of Periclean Athens, a time of unprecedented achievement in drama, architecture, philosophy, historiography, and the visual arts. Green's accompanying notes and commentary revisit longstanding debates about historical inconsistencies in Diodorus' work and offer thought-provoking new interpretations and conclusions. In his masterful introductory essay, Green demolishes the traditional view of Diodorus and argues for a thorough critical reappraisal of this synthesizing historian, who attempted nothing less than a "universal history" that begins with the gods of mythology and continues down to the eve of Julius Caesar's Gallic campaigns.

eISBN: 978-0-292-79587-7
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. ix-xiv)
  4. ABBREVIATIONS
    ABBREVIATIONS (pp. xv-xxiv)
  5. INTRODUCTION
    INTRODUCTION (pp. 1-48)

    Diodorus Siculus is known to few people today apart from ancient historians, and even they, for the most part, consult his text rather than read it. This may explain why the one fact virtually all classicists think they know about him—that he is a mere slavish copyist only as good as his source—has remained for so long unchallenged dogma. There can be few ancient authors who have elicited such scorn and opprobrium from the academic world. Wilamowitz dismissed Diodorus as a “miserable scribbler.” Schwartz, in his article for Pauly-Wissowa, called the Bibliotheke a mere compilation, adding that “one...

  6. Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 11: 480–451 B.C.E.
    Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 11: 480–451 B.C.E. (pp. 49-176)

    1. The preceding book, the tenth overall, concluded with the events of the year immediately prior to Xerxes’ crossing into Europe, and the public debate held in the general assembly of the Hellenes at Corinth to discuss an alliance between Gelon and the Greeks [481 B.C.E.].¹ In the present book we shall fully narrate the subsequent course of events, beginning with Xerxes’ expedition against the Hellenes, and concluding with the year before the Athenians’ expedition to Cyprus commanded by Kimon [451 B.C.E.].

    [2] When Kalliades was archon in Athens [480/79], the Romans elected Spurius Cassius and Proculus Verginius Tricostus consuls.²...

  7. Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 12.1.1–12.37.1: 450–431 B.C.E.
    Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 12.1.1–12.37.1: 450–431 B.C.E. (pp. 177-236)

    1. One might well feel at a loss when pausing to consider the anomaly inherent in human existence: namely, that of those things deemed good, not one is found bestowed on mankind in its entirety, while among evils there is none so absolute that it lacks some advantageous element. We can find demonstrations [of this principle] by considering past events, especially those of major importance.¹ [2] For example, the expedition made against Hellas by Xerxes, the Great King of Persia, occasioned the greatest fear among the Greeks on account of the vastness of his forces, since it was for the...

  8. APPENDIX A: THE TERMINAL DATE OF THE BIBLIOTHEKE
    APPENDIX A: THE TERMINAL DATE OF THE BIBLIOTHEKE (pp. 237-241)
  9. APPENDIX B: ATHENIAN LOSSES IN THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN
    APPENDIX B: ATHENIAN LOSSES IN THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN (pp. 242-244)
  10. Maps
    Maps (pp. 245-252)
  11. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
    CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE (pp. 253-274)
  12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 275-288)
  13. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 289-312)
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