ISSN 0320-961X (Print)
ISSN - (Online)


For citation:

Osipova O. V. Characterization in Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheke. Ancient World and Archaeology, 2021, vol. 20, iss. 20, pp. 35-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/0320-961X-2021-20-35-43, EDN: WOXNZN

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0).
Full text:
(downloads: 94)
Language: 
Russian
Article type: 
Article
UDC: 
94(38)+929 Диодор Сицилийский
EDN: 
WOXNZN

Characterization in Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheke

Autors: 
Osipova Olga Vladimirovna, Lomonosov Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov
Abstract: 

The authorial assessment of individuals in Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History is discussed. Historian’s comments are the principal technique of character portrayal in the work, and most of them are brief and standardized phrases, namely repeated combinations of virtues or (less often) vices. These lists of virtues or vices, including obituaries and comparative assessments of two or three individuals, are compared with eulogies (ἐγκώμια). It is concluded, that, ac­cording to the requirements of the Hellenistic rhetoric, Diodorus Siculus includes his assessments of individuals into the narrative in order to accomplish propor­tionality of composition (συμμετρία), and is guided by considerations of the appro­priateness of such comments in the given context.

Reference: 

Chamoux F. Introduction générale // Diodore de Sicile. Bibliothèque historique. Livre I / F. Chamoux, P. Bertrac (eds.). P., 1993. P. VII– LXXVI.

Diodore de Sicile. Bibliothèque historique. Livre XVII / P. Goukowsky (ed.). P., 1976.

Diodore de Sicile. Bibliothèque historique. Fragments. T. 1: Livres VI–X / A. Cohen-Skalli (ed.). P., 2012.

Flower M.A. Theopompus of Chios. History and Rhetoric in the Fourth Century B.C. Oxf., 1994.

Gasparov M.L. Antichnaya ritorika kak sistema // Izbrannyye trudy. Vol. 1. O poetakh. Moscow, 1997. P. 556–590.

Ginzburg L.Ya. O literaturnom geroe. Leningrad, 1979.

Gray V.J. Xenophon’s Mirror of Princes: Reading the Reflections. Oxf., 2011.

Halliwell S. Traditional Greek Conceptions of Character // Characterization and Individuality in Greek Literature / Chr. Pelling (ed.). Oxf., 1990. P. 32–59.

Hau L.I. Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus. Edinburgh, 2016.

Lefèvre F. Le livre XVI de Diodore de Sicile: observations sur la composition et sur le traitement des grandes personnages // REG. 2002. T. 115.2. P. 518–537.

Meeus A. History’s Aims and Audience in the Proem to Diodoros’ Bibliotheke // Diodoros of Sicily: historiographical theory and practice in the Bibliotheke / L.I. Hau, A. Meeus, B. Sheridan (eds.). Leuven, 2018. P. 149–174.

Momigliano A. The Development of Greek Biography. Cambr. (Mass.); L., 1993.

Nicolai R. La storiografia nell’ educazione antica. Pisa, 1992.

Osipova O.V. “Simmetriya” v “Istoricheskoy biblioteke” Diodora Sitsiliyskogo // Indoevropeyskoe yazykoznanie i klassicheskaya filologiya. 2020. Vol. 24(2). P. 980–986.

Pernot L. La rhétorique de l’éloge dans le monde gréco-romain. P., 1993.

Piccirilli L. Diodoro tra biografia e storia // SIFC. 2000. Vol. 18. P. 112–118.

Pitcher L.V. Characterization in Ancient Historiography // A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography / J. Marincola (ed.). Oxf., 2007. P. 102–117.

Pomeroy A.J. Polybius’ Death Notices // Phoenix. 1986. Vol. 40.4. P. 407–423.

Pomeroy A.J. The Appropriate Comment: Death Notices in the Ancient Historians. Frankfurt am Main, 1991.

Pontier P. Xеnophon: the place of eulogy in historical works, from Hellenica (VI–VII) to Agesilaos // Jeux et enjeux de la mise en forme de l' histoire. Recherche su le genre historique en Grèce et à Rome / M.-R. Guelfucci (ed.). Besançon, 2010. P. 405–417.

Prandi L. A Monograph on Alexander the Great within a Universal History: Diodo­ros Book XVII // Diodoros of Sicily: historiographical theory and practice in the Bibliotheke / L.I. Hau, A. Meeus, B. Sheridan (eds.). Leuven, 2018. P. 175–185.

Sacks K.S. Diodorus Siculus and the First Century. Princeton; Oxf., 1990.

Schorn S. Historiographie, Biographie und Enkomion. Theorie der Biographie und Historiographie bei Diodor und Polybios // RSA. 2014. Vol. 44. P. 137–164.

Strogetskiy V.M. Vvedenie k “Istoricheskoy biblioteke” Diodora Sitsiliyskogo i ego istoriko-filosofskoe soderzhanie // Vestnik drevney istorii. 1986. No. 2. P. 65–87.

Stylianou P.J. A Historical Commentary on Diodorus Siculus. Book 15. Oxf., 1998.

Received: 
14.08.2021
Accepted: 
18.11.2021
Published: 
25.12.2021