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i
Diodorus Siculus
and the World
of the Late Roman
Republic
z
CHARLES E. MUNTZ
1
iv
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
v
In memoriam
Diskin Clay
Lawrence Richardson, Jr.
vi
╇ vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Bibliography 249
Index Locorum 269
General Index 281
viii
ix
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many individuals who have helped me bring
this book to fruition. Rosaria Munson, Georgia Machemer, and Oxford’s
anonymous referees provided wonderfully insightful criticism of the man-
uscript. The Loeb Classical Library Foundation offered generous funding
to support my research. Fulbright College and the Department of History at
the University of Arkansas provided both funding and a sabbatical to work
on the manuscript. Cambridge University and Wolfson College graciously
hosted me as the Arkansas Visiting Fellow in 2014–2015, and I would like to
single out Meg Westbury of the Wolfson College Library for her assistance
during the year. Peter Green and Robert Drews both took the time to write
recommendations for me. Stefan Vranka and his staff at Oxford University
Press guided me through the publishing process. Part of Chapter 4 was
first presented at the conference Diodorus Siculus: Shared Myths, World
Community, and Universal History in Glasgow in 2011, and I want to thank
conference organizers Lisa Hau, Alexander Meeus, and Brian Sheridan
and all the other participants for their feedback and encouragement. My
wonderful colleagues in the History Department and Classical Studies
Program at the University of Arkansas provided much moral support, and
helped me by reading and commenting on fellowship proposals and book
prospectuses. I would like to thank especially Lynda Coon, Tricia Starks,
J. Laurence Hare, Kathryn Sloan, Michael Pierce, and Daniel Levine. In
the University of Arkansas Library, I am particularly grateful to Beth Juhl
and everyone in Interlibrary Loan. This book has its origins in my Duke
dissertation, and I would like to thank the original members of my com-
mittee, Peter Burian, Kent Rigsby, Diskin Clay, and especially my advisor,
the magnificent Mary T. Boatwright. I would also like to thank Lawrence
Richardson, Jr., whose class on Cicero was one of the greatest I ever took.
Sadly, neither Diskin nor Larry could see the finished work.
And finally, thanks to my parents, for everything.
x
xi
Abbreviations
xii Abbreviations
Diodorus, Quellenforschung,
and Beyond
A man inherited a field in which was an accumulation of
old stone, part of an older hall. Of the old stone, some had
already been used in building the house in which he actu-
ally lived, not far from the old house of his fathers. Of the
rest he took some and built a tower. But his friends com-
ing perceived at once (without troubling to climb the steps)
that these stones had formerly belonged to a more ancient
building. So they pushed the tower over, with no little
labour, in order to look for hidden carvings and inscrip-
tions, or to discover whence the man’s distant forefathers
had obtained their building material. Some suspecting a
deposit of coal under the soil began to dig for it, and forgot
even the stones. They all said: “This tower is most interest-
ing.” But they also said (after pushing it over): “What a
muddle it is in!” And even the man’s own descendants,
who might have been expected to consider what he had
been about, were heard to murmur: “He is such an odd
fellow! Imagine his using these old stones just to build a
nonsensical tower! Why did he not restore the old house?
He had no sense of proportion.” But from the top of that
tower the man had been able to look out upon the sea.
—J . R. R. Tolkien, “Beowulf: The Monsters
and the Critics”
More than two thousand years ago a Greek provincial from Sicily wrote
one of the most remarkable works to survive from antiquity, no less than a
history of the entire world from the beginning of life to his own time. This
Greek, Diodorus Siculus, called his work the Bibliotheke, as it encompassed
2
2 Diodorus Siculus
1. On the title of Bibliotheke and its cosmopolitan overtones, see Too (2010) 143–169, and on
the larger trend toward encyclopaedism in the late Republic König and Woolf (2013) 50–52.
╇ 3
4 Diodorus Siculus
by 45, since he saw the Rostra while it was still outside the Senate house
(12.26.1), and Caesar removed it in that year.3
Diodorus says that he lived at Rome for some time because of the excel-
lent resources of the city for research, and he may have spent the remain-
der of his life there, although this is not certain.4 The latest reference to a
contemporary event in the extant portion of the Bibliotheke is to Octavian’s
expulsion of the inhabitants of Tauromenium in Sicily (16.7.1), which
apparently happened in 36 or soon thereafter (cf. Appian, B Civ. 5.109).
In Book 1 Diodorus also remarks that the Ptolemies were the most recent
dynasty to rule Egypt, which gives a terminal date of 31/30 when Octavian
annexed Egypt after the battle of Actium (1.44.4). Diodorus himself tells
us in the proëm that he spent thirty years doing research and traveling to
perform autopsy (1.4.1). If we assume that Diodorus spent several years
working before coming to Alexandria, that would put the terminal date in
the middle to late 30s, which tallies with the other references in the work
discussed above.5 Diodorus also tells us in the proëm that “my undertak-
ing is completed, but the books are so far unpublished” (ἡ μὲν ὑπόθεσις
ἔχει τέλος, αἱ βίβλοι δὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀνέκδοτοι τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι, 1.4.6), a
curious statement that suggests Diodorus was still in the process of revis-
ing his work; his failure to remove it from the proëm suggests that he may
not have finished and the work as a whole was published after his death.6
We will analyze these problems further in Chapter 7.
Despite the lack of information about Diodorus specifically, we are
much better informed about other Greek intellectuals during the late
Republican period, which helps shed some light on the historian. We
know that Diodorus spent time in Egypt, and it would not at all be surpris-
ing if he availed himself of the resources in Alexandria, such as the library
and museum.7 But in the proëm of the Bibliotheke it is Rome, and Rome
alone, that Diodorus praises: “For the preeminence of this city, which
stretches its power to the ends of the inhabited world, offered the most
accessible and abundant resources for us during the long time we spent
8. Hidber (2011) 122–123 provides a useful list of the major Greek scholars associated with
Rome during the late Republic and early Augustan period.
9. Presumably it is to libraries that Diodorus alludes in 1.4.3; see further Chapter 7.
10. Hidber (2011) 117–118.
11. Rawson (1985) 105.
12. Crawford (1978) 193–208 argues that for the Romans, association with Greek intellectuals
was valuable primarily for the snob factor, although he perhaps exaggerates the importance
of this. See also Gold (1985) 319 n. 25.
13. Yarrow (2006) 28–29.
14. Ibid. 25–30.
6
6 Diodorus Siculus
8 Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus further propounds that “it is good to be able to use the mistakes
of others as examples to set things right” (καλὸν γὰρ τὸ δύνασθαι τοῖς τῶν
ἄλλων ἀγνοήμασι πρὸς διόρθωσιν χρῆσθαι παραδείγμασι) and “to be able
to imitate the successes of the past” (ἔχειν … μίμησιν τῶν ἐπιτετευγμένων,
1.1.4). It is one of Diodorus’s core beliefs that “the acquisition of [historical
knowledge] is the most useful thing for all the chances of life” (πρὸς ἁπάσας
τὰς τοῦ βίου περστάσεις χρησιμωτάτην … εἶναι τὴν ταύτης ἀνάληψιν, 1.1.4).
Kenneth Sacks refers to this as the “moral utility” of history.”23 Diodorus
goes on in the proëm (4–5) to explicitly compare the historian to Heracles,
because the beneficence of the wealth of examples and human experiences
he offers to his readers is comparable to the benefits of the hero’s labors.24
These are the statements of an intellectual who clearly has great expecta-
tions and high hopes for his history and his ability to influence his audi-
ence, and these themes will be seen repeatedly in the Bibliotheke.
Despite this, Diodorus alone among attested Greek historians of this
period is not associated with any particular teaching circle or Roman fam-
ily. We know of other Sicilians from this time, such as Caecilius of Calacte
and Sextus Clodius, who had access to and were involved with the elite,
but no contemporary source mentions Diodorus.25 In spite of Diodorus’s
praise of the city of Rome and its resources, the Bibliotheke gives no hint
of any connection with specific Romans. Our evidence, especially after
Cicero’s death, is not so detailed and comprehensive that the lack of refer-
ence to Diodorus must indicate that he did not partake in society in Rome.
But given that in all other documented cases Roman patrons approached
already established Greek intellectuals, Diodorus must have been trying
to attract that kind of attention and patronage with the Bibliotheke, yet for
some reason failed to do so, much as he also apparently failed to publish
the work. This perspective of an outsider attempting to join the conversa-
tion is unique to Diodorus among our sources from the period. And it
23. Sacks (1990) 24–36 and Sacks (1981) 132–137 analyze this concept in Greek historical
thought and Diodorus’s own take on it. On the purposes of Hellenistic historians in general,
see Walbank (1990b). See further Yarrow (2006) 80–81 and Sheridan (2010) 44–45 on his-
tory as a repository of examples. History as having a moral purpose through the examples it
provides probably goes back to Xenophon and Isocrates in the fourth century, although none
of the extant works prior to Diodorus emphasize it as strongly as he does. Strogetsky (1983)
102 notes that Diodorus’s praise of history and history as a repository of examples is very
similar to Cicero’s in Orat. 120 and Leg. 1.5.
24. Sulimani (2011) 22–23.
25. Sacks (1990) 188–189. The earliest mention of Diodorus is Pliny, N.H. pref. 25.
9
means that the first part of the Bibliotheke, which forms a unit, would have
been especially important for introducing Diodorus’s ideas to his audience
and establishing him as an intellectual force.26 This part of the Bibliotheke
must be understood in this late Republican context despite the superfi-
cial focus on the ancient barbarian civilizations such as the Egyptians,
Assyrians, Indians, and others. The following chapters will explore in
detail how Diodorus uses the barbarians to engage with the intellectual
and political issues of the late Republic, but for the moment two examples
will demonstrate how connected the opening books of the Bibliotheke are
to his own times.27
In Book 1 Diodorus describes the magnificent tomb of the Egyptian
king Osymandyas (Rameses II). At the peak of this tomb is a circular bor-
der whose circumference is 365 cubits, each cubit-long section represent-
ing a day of the year and inscribed with astrological information (1.49.5).28
This establishes the Egyptian year as 365 days in length. In the following
chapter, Diodorus briefly describes the Egyptian calendar. Here he remarks
that the Egyptians use a solar calendar, with twelve months of thirty days
with 5¼ days added every year, giving a 365¼-day year (1.50.2). But as a
matter of fact, Diodorus is wrong about this. The Egyptian calendar was
indeed 365 days long, as shown by the calendar in Osymandyas’s tomb
(1.49.5), and it consisted of twelve months of thirty days each for a neat
360 days. Five epagomenal days were then added for a 365-day year, which
became the standard Egyptian civil calendar. How the Egyptians arrived
at a year of 365 days is unclear, but it does not appear to be from precise
solar observations.29 Moreover, the Egyptian calendar was missing the extra
26. These books have been relatively neglected by modern scholars, with the exception of
Sulimani (2011), who remarks on this lack of attention (335–336). To give one example of this
neglect, Hau (2009) 171–197 basically ignores Books 1–5 despite the presence of the moral-
izing features she is analyzing in those books.
27. On the Greek use of “barbarian” nations, especially Egypt, as vehicles for social and
political debates, or as sources of “privileged” information, see Vlassopoulos (2013) 202–212,
although his citations are almost all Classical. For the use of Egypt in particular prior to the
Hellenistic period, see Froidefond (1971) 231–353, Vasunia (2001) 183–246, Hartog (2002)
211–228, esp. 214–225 on the changing role of Egypt as a source of ancient wisdom.
28. On this building, see Burton (1972) 152–154 with references to earlier studies. She notes
that the astrological ceiling, at least as Diodorus describes it, is fictitious, since 365 cubits
around is far too large for the Ramesseum. On the other hand, Diodorus’s description of the
tomb reliefs, which depict the battle of Kadesh, is generally accurate. See Breasted (1904) for
a detailed modern description (with transcriptions) of the surviving reliefs.
29. The origins of the Egyptian civil calendar are beyond the scope of this chapter, but for
an overview see OEAE, s.v. “Calendar.” The classic study of the Egyptian calendar is Parker
10
10 Diodorus Siculus
quarter day of a solar year, and although the Egyptians seem to have been
well aware that their calendar was falling out of synchronization with the
seasons they made no effort to fix it.30 This was well known to the Greeks;
Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians were the first people to divide the year
into twelve months of thirty days apiece, with five days at the end (2.4),
which he praises as superior to the Greek system of adding an intercalary
month every other year. But he does not say that this is a solar calendar,
instead stating that the Egyptians claimed they developed it from the stars.
During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246–221) an effort was made
by the Macedonians to begin adding an extra quarter day to the year in order
to bring the Egyptian calendar into sync with the solar year, as recorded in
the famous Canopus decree of 238 (OGI 56). However, this measure failed
due to opposition from the Egyptian priests.31 It is doubtful that Hecataeus
of Abdera, Diodorus’s putative source for this section, would have made an
error such as this.
But around the time Diodorus was writing the Bibliotheke, a 365¼-day
calendar was very much in vogue. After his victories in the civil wars, Julius
Caesar reformed the chaotic Roman calendar by introducing a 365¼-day
year in 47. The calendar went into use in 46 after an extra sixty-seven days
were added to bring the Roman calendar back into sync with the seasons.32
Thus the 365¼-day solar calendar that Diodorus erroneously attributes to
the Egyptians is identical in length to the calendar Caesar introduced. And
several ancient sources suggest that Caesar got his calendar from Egypt.
Appian, writing in the second century and himself from Alexandria, tells
us that Caesar “changed [the calendar] to a solar cycle, as the Egyptians
do” (ἐς τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου δρόμον μετέβαλεν, ὡς ἦγον Αἰγύπτιοι, B Civ. 2.154),
while Cassius Dio, writing in the early third century, says that Caesar “got
this system from his stay in Alexandria” (τοῦτο δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ
διατριβῆς ἔλαβε, 43.26.2). Most of the other sources that speak of Caesar’s
calendar are silent on its origin.33 But Pliny the Elder attributes it to an
(1950), esp. 51–56 on the civil calendar. More recent studies, which continue to debate on the
problems of the origins of the year and of the relationship between civil and lunar calendars,
include Krauss (1985) 183–192, Wells (1995) 1–37, Bomhard (1999) 8–10.
30. On the Egyptian awareness of the length of the solar year, from the rising of Sothis
(Sirius), see Krauss (1985) 201. Bomhard (1999) 8–9 quotes several Egyptian sources on the
inadequacy of their calendar.
31. Bickerman (1968) 41.
32. Ibid. 43–46, Samuel (1972) 158–164, Hannah (2005) 98–112, Feeney (2007) 193–196.
33. I.e., Suet. Iul. 40, Plut. Caes. 59, Censorinus DN 20.8–11, Macrob. Sat. 1.14.6–12.
11
12 Diodorus Siculus
37. On the fragments of Diodorus describing the slave rebellions, see Yarrow (2006) 221–225
and 336–339. The surviving excerpts deal mainly with the personalities of the slave leaders,
not on the conduct or resolution of the rebellions.
13
14 Diodorus Siculus
41. See Chamoux, Bertrac, and Vernière (1993) cxxiii–cxlix for a catalogue of these excerptors.
42. Sacks (1990) 206.
43. Niebuhr (1851) 8, 206, 223.
44. Schwartz, RE V s.v. Diodoros [38], 663.
45. Tarn (1948) vol. 2, 63.
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side, crowding through a doorway or gateway, and direct blows of
other kinds are charged with its pathogenesis. The friability which
attends on leucocythæmia has been noted as a predisposing cause.
Calves by reason of their small size and the relative bulk of the spleen
are especially liable to rupture by kicks from animals or men.
Much more commonly than in solipeds, rupture of the spleen
occurs as a complication of specific microbian diseases like anthrax
and Southern cattle fever.
Symptoms. The mature animal assumes the recumbent position,
refusing to rise, and dies in a few hours. In calves, life may be
prolonged for a few hours longer, and there have been noticed,
anorexia, watering of the eyes, accelerated pulse and respiration,
arrest of intestinal peristalsis, cold ears, rigid limbs, and moderately
full belly (Notz). There should also be tenderness on manipulation or
percussion of the left hypochondrium, and until coagulation occurs,
fluctuation in the lower part of the abdomen, with pallid mucous
membranes and other signs of profuse internal hæmorrhage.
Treatment is useless in the majority of cases. In the slighter forms
it would be the same as in the horse.
TUMORS OF THE SPLEEN.
Hertzen records the case of a pig in which the spleen had become
gangrenous and lay free in a surrounding fibrous capsule.
TUBERCLES AND GLANDERS NODULES OF
THE SPLEEN.
Tubercles in the spleen are common in cattle, swine, guinea-pigs,
rabbits and cats, in the last largely as the result of ingestion of
tuberculous meat. In the larger mammals individual tubercles are
usually of the size of a walnut and upward, while in the smaller they
show as miliary deposits. The products are often caseated or
calcified.
Glander nodules are found in the spleen of the horse and other
solipeds and as the result of inoculation in that of rabbits and
guinea-pigs. In solipeds they may be of considerable size whereas in
the inoculated rodents they are usually small and numerous—like
millet seed or pins’ heads.
PARASITES OF THE SPLEEN.
Parasites are less common in the spleen than might be expected
yet the encysted parasites of the liver and pancreas, are also to be
found in the spleen. Thus echinococcus is found in the spleen of
cattle, and headless hydatids in that of the horse; cysticercus
tenuicollis in the spleen of sheep; cysticercus cellulosa in that of
pigs; distomata, and pentastoma denticulata in the spleen of cattle;
coccidia in the spleen of rabbits; and actinomyces in that of horses
and cattle.
In addition to these the spleen is a general rendezvous for the
different pathogenic organisms that can survive in the blood stream,
such as the bacilli of tubercle, glanders, septicæmia, anthrax, black
quarter, swine plague and hog cholera, and for the cocci of
suppuration, strangles, contagious pneumonia, etc. (See Parasites
and Contagious Diseases).
INDEX.