Diodorus Siculus, << `dy` uh DAWR uhs SIHK yuh luhs, >> was an ancient Greek historian who lived sometime between 100 B.C. and the birth of Christ. Diodorus wrote a 40-volume history titled Library of History. Fewer than half the volumes have survived complete (books 1 through 5 and 11 through 20), though parts of the others have been preserved. Books 1 through 3 deal with the early histories of such non-Greek peoples as the Egyptians and the Assyrians. An account of Greek history, beginning with early legends, followed. Books 11 through 20 provide a continuous account of Greek history from 480 to 301 B.C. The lost second half of the work covered Greek and Roman history to about 59 B.C.
Historians know little of Diodorus’s life. He was born in Agyrium (now Agira), Sicily. Roman writers later added the word Siculus, which is Latin for Sicilian, to his name. Diodorus showed a strong interest in the history of his native island. He also claimed to have traveled widely while doing research for his writing, and he does seem to have visited Egypt. However, he actually composed the Library by summarizing the work of earlier historians rather than by doing original research. He wrote that the Library took him 30 years to finish.
Scholars often criticize Diodorus for his mistakes and judgmental tone. But his work is important, because few of the earlier works of history that he used as sources have survived. The Library is the only source for some periods of Greek history. For this reason, Diodorus’s accounts of Greece in the 300’s B.C. and of Sicilian history are particularly useful to historians.
