Overview

In Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic, Charles E. Muntz offers a fresh look at one of the most neglected historians of the ancient world, and recovers Diodorus's originality and importance as a witness to a profoundly tumultuous period in antiquity. Muntz analyzes the first three books of Diodorus's Bibliotheke historike, some of the most varied and eclectic material in his work, in which Diodorus reveals through the history, myths, and customs of the ""barbarians"" the secrets of successful states and rulers, and contributes to the debates surrounding the transition from Republic to Empire. Muntz establishes just how linked the ""barbarians"" of the Bibliotheke are to the actors of the crumbling Republic, and demonstrates that through the medium of the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Indians, and others Diodorus engages with the major issues and intellectual disputes of his time, including the origins of civilization, the propriety of ruler-cult, the benefits of monarchy, and the relationship between myth and history. Diodorus has many similarities with other authors writing on these topics, including Cicero, Lucretius, Varro, Sallust, and Livy but, as Muntz argues, engaging with such controversial issues, even indirectly, could be especially dangerous for a Greek provincial such as Diodorus. Indeed, for these reasons he may never have completed or fully published the Bibliotheke in his lifetime. Through his careful and precise investigations, Muntz demonstrates Diodorus's historical context at its full size and scope.

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9780190498726

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This detailed reading of the first three books of Diodorus's <em>Bibliotheke</em> shows how even his presentation of non-Greek mythology and ethnography-the 'ancient barbarians' and their culture-bringers, mythical history, and deification of mortals-bears the stamp of the political and intellectual currents of the late Roman Republic. Muntz follows Diodorus from the origins of the world to the triumph and downfall of Julius Caesar, and he offers fascinating answers to questions surrounding Diodorus's composition and publication of his work. This will be a major contribution to the study of Diodorus, and of Greek historiography as a whole. --Christopher Baron, University of Notre Dame In <em>Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic</em>, Charles E. Muntz has demonstrated what should now be accepted: that this so-called 'mere copyist' possessed an original mind. Muntz provides by far the most complete attempt yet to locate Diodorus's sentiments and rhetorical strategies within a first century context. Closely and meticulously argued and richly documented, this is an essential contribution to Hellenistic historiography. --Kenneth Sacks, Brown University

This detailed reading of the first three books of Diodorus's Bibliotheke shows how even his presentation of non-Greek mythology and ethnography-the 'ancient barbarians' and their culture-bringers, mythical history, and deification of mortals-bears the stamp of the political and intellectual currents of the late Roman Republic. Muntz follows Diodorus from the origins of the world to the triumph and downfall of Julius Caesar, and he offers fascinating answers to questions surrounding Diodorus's composition and publication of his work. This will be a major contribution to the study of Diodorus, and of Greek historiography as a whole. --Christopher Baron, University of Notre Dame In Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic, Charles E. Muntz has demonstrated what should now be accepted: that this so-called 'mere copyist' possessed an original mind. Muntz provides by far the most complete attempt yet to locate Diodorus's sentiments and rhetorical strategies within a first century context. Closely and meticulously argued and richly documented, this is an essential contribution to Hellenistic historiography. --Kenneth Sacks, Brown University

Author Information

Charles E. Muntz is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Arkansas and was a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University and his B.A. from Swarthmore College.

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