![]() For very great and most numerous deeds have been performed by the heroes and demi-gods and by many good men likewise, who, because of the benefits they conferred which have been shared by all men, have been honoured by succeeding generation with sacrifices which in some cases are like those offered to the gods, in other cases like such as are paid to heroes, and of one and all the appropriate praises have been sung by the voice of history for all time. We, however, holding the opposite opinion to theirs, have shouldered the labour which such a record involves and have expended all the care within our power upon the ancient legends. Likewise Callisthenes and Theopompus, who were contemporaries of Ephorus, held aloof from the old myths. Ephorus of Cymê, for instance, a pupil of Isocrates, when he undertook to write his universal history, passed over the tales of the old mythology and commenced his history with a narration of the events which took place after the Return of the Heracleidae. For these reasons the writers of greatest reputation among the later historians have stood aloof from the narration of ancient mythology because of its difficulty, and have undertaken to record only the more recent events. For, in the first place, the antiquity of the events they have to record, since it makes record difficult, is a cause of much perplexity to those who would compose an account of them and again, inasmuch as any pronouncement they may make of the dates of events does not admit of the strictest kind of proof or disproof, a feeling of contempt for the narration is aroused in the min of those who read it furthermore, the variety and the multitude of the heroes, demi-gods, and men in general whose genealogies must be set down make their recital a difficult thing to achieve but the greatest and most disconcerting obstacle of all consists in the fact that those who have recorded the deeds and myths of the earliest times are in disagreement among themselves. I am not unaware o the fact that those who compile the narratives of ancient mythology labour under many disadvantages in their composition. On Aristaeus, Daphnis, Eryx, and Orion (chaps. On Daedalus, the Minotaur, and the campaign of Minos against the king Cocalus (chaps. ![]() On Dardanus and his descendants as far as Priam (chap. On Pelops, Tantalus, Oenomaus, and Niobê (chaps. On the daughters of Asopus and the sons born to Aeacus (chap. On the Epigoni 1 of The Seven Against Thebes (chaps. On the Argonauts and Medea and the daughters of Pelias (chaps. ![]() On Heracles and the twelve Labours, and the other deeds of his up to the time of his deification (chaps. ![]() On Dionysus, Priapus, Hermaphroditus, and the Muses (chaps. Introduction on the myths recounted by the historians (chap. OLDFATHER CONTENTS OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF DIODORUS Nevertheless, in spite of these reworkings, his work does preserve many stories of myth not found elsewhere.īOOK VI FRAGMENTS LIBRARY OF HISTORY BOOK IV. Many of these are as far-fetched as the original stories themselves. To this end he concocts a variety of stories to rationalise and explain away the fantastical elements of myth. NOTE: Diodorus attempts to convert the stories of myth into factual histories. In addition to the translations the book contains the source Greek text, maps, and Oldfather's footnotes and index. Both books are still in print and available new from (click on image right for details). Volumes II and III of Diodorus in the Loeb series contain the bulk of his mythological material. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press London, William Heinemann Ltd. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 303 and 340. He wrote a history of the world in 40 books which included large sections devoted to myth, legend and the unusual customs of foreign tribes.ĭiodorus Siculus. DIODORUS SICULUS was a Greek historian who flourished in Sicily in the C1st B.C.
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