A historical commentary on Diodorus Siculus, Book 15

by P. J. Stylianou

"For long stretches of Greek history in the classical period, Diodorus Siculus provides the only surviving continuous narrative of events. This study, the fullest ever undertaken of Diodorus, examines his aims, sources, and methods in detail. The findings of this investigation are then applied in commenting on Book 15, which deals with the crucial years between the King's Peace, concluded in 387/6 BC, and the aftermath of the battle of Mantinea fought in 362 BC"--Publisher description For long stretches of Greek history in the classical period, Diodorus Siculus provides the only surviving continuous narrative of events. For this narrative he summarized, however incompetently, the work of earlier and greater historians whose original texts are lost to us. This makes Diodorus an invaluable quarry for the historian and the historiographer alike, but one that can be used only with discretion. We need to get as clear an idea as we can of the way his mind worked, where his account is most li