Ch. 2. Geographical and Historical Patterning in Diodorus Siculus

Abstract

This paper explores the function of geographical and historical patterning in Diodorus’ work, in particular parallels between Sicily and mainland Greece created both through explicit plotting of events and through intratextual and intertextual echoes. It examines how Diodorus relates two Sicilian leaders, Agathocles and Dion, to Alexander and Philip of Macedon; how he creates links between Agesilaus’ invasion of Asia and Dionysius I’s conflict with Carthage; and how he picks up Thucydides’ Sicilian narrative in his account of Gelon’s victory over Carthage. The paper also explores and questions the language of East and West that scholars have applied in speaking of links between mainland Greece and Sicily. Published in Alexander Meeus, ed., Narrative in Hellenistic Historiography (HISTOS Supplement 8), p. 23-68.