Occidental Studies

Diodorus Siculus: Theft or Invention in the Ancient West (A Lowly Compiler or the First and Greatest Historian of World History)

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Esmaeil Sangari

Associate professor of Department of History and Iranology, PhD in Ancient History, Languages and Civilizations, University of Isfahan;

10.30465/os.2026.51983.2042
Abstract
Introduction
Diodorus composed his work in forty books. The Historical Library begins with an account of the creation of the world and concludes with a description of the Gallic Wars (58–51 BC) and the early years of the establishment of the Roman Empire. The work is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the mythical history of non-Greek peoples, including the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Medes, Persians, Indians, Scythians (Saces), Arabs, and Africans. The second part covers the history of the Greek peoples, the Second Median/Persian War, the Peloponnesian Wars, and related events, and ends with the death of Alexander the Great. The third part comprises an account of the history of Alexander’s successors down to the beginning of the Gallic Wars led by Julius Caesar.
Of these forty books, only fifteen have survived. These include the first five books, which deal with the history of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Medes, Indians, Greeks, and others, as well as Books Eleven through Twenty, which cover the history of the Greeks, Persians, Carthaginians, Sicilians, Macedonians, Indians, and other peoples. These books have survived almost in their entirety, while the remaining books have been lost, with only fragments preserved. Even these limited fragments, however, contain valuable and useful information about the ancient world of those times.
Materials & Methods
This study seeks, through a library-based methodology and by examining the literary and historical evidence found in classical texts, to address the questions raised regarding Diodorus’s writing style and his objectives in composing the Historical Library.
Discussion & Result
In composing the Historical Library, Diodorus consulted and made use of the books and writings of many historians. We are aware of the existence of some of these historians only through Diodorus’s own writings; in fact, his work preserves summaries of historical and literary writings by certain authors whose works have disappeared and been lost over time. He incorporated portions of these writings into his books with little to no alteration, critical assessment, or commentary. Diodorus is the only historian of world history writing in Greek whose work has survived in relatively substantial portions, such that fifteen out of his forty books have endured the passage of time and have reached us (Sangari, 2021: 112–113; Diodorus Siculus, 2005: 14).
In reality, only a small number of historians before Diodorus can truly be considered historians of world history in the full sense of the term. Diodorus does not regard any of his predecessors as historians of “world history,” since all of them, in his view, fell short of his ideal; he explicitly states that his purpose in writing the Historical Library was to correct the errors of earlier historians.
Although little information is available about Diodorus’s life, his intellectual life, worldview, and understanding of history as an ancient historian can be discerned from his writings. After completing his major work, Diodorus composed a general preface and placed it at the beginning of his first book. This preface is more illuminating than his other writings for understanding Diodorus’s intellectual foundations, as it articulates his ethical–philosophical approach to history and historiography. This preface may be regarded as “Diodorus’s philosophy of history”; however, it has provoked considerable debate among historians and scholars.
Conclusion
Although more than five centuries have passed since the emergence of the West’s romanticized or imaginary Orientalism, which appears to present a thoroughly distorted image of the real East, Occidentalism has yet to truly begin in the East, and in the more specific sense of the term, in Iran. It remains, as it were, in an embryonic state. Bringing an end to indifference toward Occidental studies in Iran is the only way to initiate forward movement in understanding the interaction and confrontation between these two civilizational entities, and the pervasive slogan of the “vague and dark West” must be set aside.
In the preface to his work, Diodorus eloquently and clearly sets forth his purpose in writing the Historical Library, expressing his desire to employ the best and most flawless method of historiography in his work. What he states in this preface is, in its entirety, correct, rational, and the product of a genuine philosophical outlook. Like others, he seeks through the writing of history to render a great service to humankind; yet it is evident that this brilliant preface appears far superior to the work as a whole. It may be said that Diodorus’s thought, at the time he composed this preface, was strongly influenced by the intellectual currents of his age.
Diodorus aspired to write the history of the entire world, recounting all historical events from the creation of the world down to his own time. In his view, the justification for this undertaking lay in the moral and political benefits that any reader could derive from reading such a work. Ultimately, although Diodorus’s Historical Library represents a fine example of the prose and literary style employed by the intellectuals and scholars of the late Hellenistic period, his prose cannot be placed on an equal footing with that of the great historians of the ancient world. In the Historical Library, one finds no trace of the elevated narrative style of Herodotus, the profound and penetrating perspective of Thucydides and Polybius, or the refined and dignified language of Xenophon. 

Keywords

Diodorus Siculus
Historical Library
World History
Historiography and Historical Perspective
Political Ethics
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