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Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic Ii Iii

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Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic Ii Iii i Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic ii iii 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. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press, 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Muntz, Charles Edward, 1980– author. Title: Diodorus Siculus and the world of the late Roman republic / Charles E. Muntz. Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. Identifiers: LCCN 2016018875 (print) | LCCN 2016017895 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190498726 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190498733 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190498740 (online) Subjects: LCSH: Diodorus, Siculus. | Diodorus, Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. | Rome—Intellectual life. | History, Ancient—Historiography. Classification: LCC D58.D23 (print) | LCC D58.D23 M35 2016 (ebook) | DDC 937/.02—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016018875 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 1. Diodorus, Quellenforschung, and Beyond 1 2. Organizing the World 27 3. The Origins of Civilization 57 4. Mythical History 89 5. The Deified Culture Bringers 133 6. Kings, Kingship, and Rome 191 7. The Roman Civil Wars and the Bibliotheke 215 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 Abbreviations of ancient sources follow the conventions of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition. For the letters of Cicero I have given both the traditional numbering, and the revised numbering employed by Shackleton- Bailey, abbreviated SB. The following abbreviations of modern works are used: BNJ Worthington, I., ed. (2008– ) Brill’s New Jacoby. Leiden: Brill. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/cluster/Jacoby%20 Online. Cited by historian number. DK Diels, H. and W, Kranz, eds. (1951–1952). Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. 6th ed. Berlin: Grunewald. FGrH Jacoby, F. (1923– 1958) Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Cited by historian number. FRHist Cornell, T. J., ed. (2013). The Fragments of the Roman Historians. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cited by historian number. GGM Müller, C., ed. (1835- 1861). Geographi Graeci Minores. Paris: A. Firmin Didot. IGLS Jalabert, L., R. Mouterde, J.P. Rey-Coquais, eds. (1929– ) Inscriptiones grecques et latines de la Syrie. Paris: P. Geuthner. IGRR Cagnat, R., J. Toutain, P. Jouguet, and G. Lafaye, ed. (1911– 1927) Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes. Paris: E. Leroux. ILLRP Degrassi, A., ed. (1965–) Inscriptiones Latinae Liberae ei Rei Republicae. Firenze: La Nuova Italia. OCD4 Hornblower, S., A. Spawforth, and E. Eidinow, eds. (2012). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OEAE Redford, D. B., ed. (2001). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xii xii Abbreviations OGI Dittenberg, W., ed. (1903–1905) Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae. Leipzig: S. Hirzel. POxy Grenfell, B. P. et al. (1898–) The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. RE Pauly, A., G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll (1903– 1978). Paulys real- encyclopädie der classischen altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. SIG Dittenberger, W. (1915– 1924). Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum. 3rd edition. Leipzig: S. Hirzelium. TGF Nauck, A. and B. Snell, B., eds. (1889-1964). Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta. Hildesheim: Olms. xiii Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic xiv 1 1 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 an entire historical library in a single work.1 Today it is one of the longest and most important histories to survive from the classical world. But, like the builder of Tolkien’s tower, Diodorus built his history out of earlier works. Scholars have been far more interested in tearing down the tower of the Bibliotheke to reconstruct those works, while criticizing Diodorus as an “odd fellow,” than in examining what Diodorus and the Bibliotheke have to tell us. This study takes the opposite approach and climbs the tower to look out on the sea. There is a remarkable vista to be seen. Diodorus is a valuable witness to one of the most turbulent periods of antiquity, the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire. Diodorus was working on the Bibliotheke in Alexandria during the 50s and witnessed the chaos surrounding the col- lapse of the Ptolemies and the Roman interventions. He was in Rome dur- ing the mid- 40s when Caesar achieved supreme power and then lost his life. And he knew the depredations that Octavian inflicted on his home- land of Sicily during the 30s. As a Greek provincial, he provides a very different perspective on his times than Roman insiders such as Cicero or Sallust. Moreover, Diodorus is a unique witness. Whereas nearly all other attested Greek intellectuals from the period are associated with prominent Romans or Roman families, Diodorus has no known connections. He is a true outsider. The Bibliotheke itself covers none of these events beyond a handful of brief references and allusions, which is itself highly suggestive.
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