The New International Encyclopædia/Diodorus Siculus

​DI′ODO′RUS (Lat., from Gk. Διόδωρος), surnamed Siculus. A Greek historian, born at Agyrium, in Sicily. He flourished in the times of Cæsar and Augustus—the latest date to which he refers is B.C. 21—traveled in Asia and Europe, and lived a long time in Rome, collecting the materials of his great work, the compilation of which occupied thirty years. This work, the Library. (Βιβλιοθήκη), was a universal history, in forty books, from the beginning to B.C. 60–59. It was divided by the author into three parts. The first six books contain an account of the mythical history of all known nations down to the time of the Trojan War; the second (books 7 to 17) cover the period from the Trojan War to the death of Alexander; the third (books 18 to 20) extended to Cæsar’s Gallic wars. Only books 1 to 5 of the first part and books 11 to 20, containing the history from the expedition of Xerxes to the war against Antigonus, are preserved entire; of books 21 to 40 we have only scanty extracts and quotations by other writers. Diodorus took Ephorus for his model, and set to work on his history with excellent purpose; but the annalistic arrangement of his work in itself was wholly unfitted for so comprehensive a history. Furthermore, Diodorus had no experience in practical life and military training, so that he lacked the insight necessary to carry out his undertaking; his style is monotonous and wearisome, and he was almost wholly without critical historical judgment. Yet his work is valuable for its contents, and replaces to some extent the lost historians. The best edition is by Dindorf, revised and provided with critical apparatus by Vogel (Leipzig, 1888–93).