Diodorus Siculus: Library of History, Volume II, Books 2.35-4.58 [2] 9780674993341, 0674993349

Citation preview

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

fT. E.

FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB,

LL.D.

EDITED BY E. H.

WARMINGTON,

m.a., f.b.hist.soc.

FORMER EDITORS PAGE,

fE. CAPPS, ph.d., ll.d.

C.H., LiTT.D.

tW. H. D. ROUSE,

LITT.D.

L. A.

POST,

DIODORUS OF SICILY II

303

l.h.d.

DIODOEUS OF SICILY IN

TWELVE VOLUMES II

BOOKS

II

{continued)

35-IV, 58

WITH AN EXGLISH TRANSLATION BY C.

H.

OLDFATHER

PROFESSOR OP AKCIENT HISTORY AND LANGUAGES, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBR.\SKA

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS MOMLXVn

First printed 1935 Reprinted 1953, 1961, 1967

y

rn 0-4

.^5^7/

Printed in Great Britain

CONTENTS PAGE

INTRODUCTION TO BOOKS

BOOK

II

BOOK

III

BOOK

IV,

II,

35-IV, 58

.

.

vii

.

(continued)

1

85 1-58

A PARTIAL INDEX OF

335

PROPER NAMES

....

535

MAPS 1.

ASIA

2.

AEGYPTUS-ETHIOPIA

At end „

INTRODUCTION Books

II,

35-IV, 58

35^2 is devoted to a brief description which was ultimately derived from Megasthenes. Although Diodorus does not mention Book

of

II,

India

him is established by the between his account of India and the Indica of Arrian and the description of that land by Strabo, both of whom avowedly drew their material from that ^vTiter. Megasthenes was in the service of Seleucus Nicator and in connection this

author, his use of

similarity

with embassies to the court of king Sandracottus (Chandragupta) at Patna was in India for some time between 302 and 291 b.c. In his Indica in four Books he was not guilty of the romances of Ctesias, but it is plain that he was imposed upon by interpreters and guides, as was Herodotus on his visit to Egypt. It cannot be known whether Diodorus used Alegasthenes directly or through a medium his failure to mention his name a single time is a little

if he used him directly.^ The Amazons of Asia Minor, and the

surprising,

Scythians, the

Hj'perboreans are then briefly discussed, and Chapters 48-54 are devoted to Sp-ia, Palestine, and Arabia. It is thought that this last section may go * On Megasthenes see now B. C. J. Timmer, Megasthenes en de Indische Maatschappij, Amsterdam, 1930.

vii

INTRODUCTION back to the Stoic philosopher, Poseidonius of Apameia, especially because of its explanation of the varied colouring of birds and different kinds of animals as being due to the " helpful influence and strength of the sun." The Book closes with a description of a fabulous people Hving in a political Utopia on an island " in the ocean to the south," the account purporting to be the adventure of a certain lambulus, which may indeed be the name of the author of the original tale.

The Third Book opens with an account

of the Ethiopians on the upper Nile, then describes the working of the gold mines on the border between Egypt and Ethiopia, and includes a long discussion of the Red Sea and the peoples dwelling about it, with some mention of the tribes along the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Much of this material was drawn from the geographer Agatharchides of Cnidus, whose work. On the Red Sea, is preserved to us in the excerpts of Photius. This work of Agatharchides, composed in the latter part of the second century b.c, embraced five Books and is on the whole a sober and fairly trustworthy much of it was certainly discussion of that region based upon the stories and accounts of travellers With in these parts and on personal observation. chapter 49 Diodorus turns to Libya and embarks upon the myths of the Libyans about the Gorgons and Amazons, this subject serving to lead him over into Greek mythology, which is the theme of the entire Fourth Book. Since, as Diodorus tells us, Ephorus, and Callisthenes and Theopompus, contemporaries of Ephorus, had not included the mytlis in their histories, ;

viii

INTRODUCTION Diodorus opens the Fourth Book \^ith a defence of Greek mythology. The gods were once kings and heroes who have been deified becaiise of the great benefits which they conferred upon mankind; they have been the object of veneration by men of old and we " should not fail to chei-ish and maintain for the gods the pious devotion which has been handed doAvn to us from our fathers " (ch. if their deeds appear superhuman it is because 8. 5) they are measured by the weakness of the men of Much of this material was drawn Diodorus' day. directly from Dionysius of Mitylene who hved in Alexandria in the second century B.C. and composed, doubtless vnth the aid of the library in that city and certainly with considerable indulgence in the romantic, his Kyklos, a kind of encyclopaedia of mythology, which included accounts of the Argonauts, Dionysus, the Amazons, events connected -with, the Trojan War, and all this he described with such devotion and assiduity that he was given the nickname Skytobrachion (" of the leathern arm "). It is generally held that for his account of Heracles Diodorus took generously from a Praise of Heracles by Matris of Thebes,^ who is otherwise unkno^^Ti and composed his encomium with vigorous rhetorical nourishes, taking care to mention every maiden ravished by Heracles and her child, in order to establish Heraclean ancestry for the numerous families in the Greek world which raised such a But here and there, when he touched the claim. western Mediterranean, Diodorus used Timaeus of Tauromenium, who, an exile in Athens for the best his exposition of

;

*

Cp.

DiodoTS,

E.

Holzer,

Matris,

ein

Beitrag

zur

Qicdlenkritik

Program Tubingen, 1881. ix

INTRODUCTION completed, not long before his and almost altogether from Uterary sources, a history of Sicily and the western Mediterranean in thirty-eight Books. Any attempt to continue further the quest for the sources of Diodorus in this section of his work must run into the sands. fifty

years of his

life,

death about 250

b.c.

THE LIBRARY OF HISTORY OF

DIODORUS OF BOOK

II

SICILY

AIOAOPOY TOT SIKEAinTOT

BIBAIOeHKHS I2T0PIKHS BIBA02 AEYTEPA *H

35.

TOLVVV TTjv

axT^P-O-TL,

TrXevpav

Kal

TerpdirXevpo's

^IvSlktj fX€V

Trpog

rrjv

^

ovaa

piea-qfji^pLav

rip

vevovaav

OLVaToXas

TTpos

r]

pLeyaXr]

OdXarra, ttjv he rrpos rag apKrovs to 'H/xaiSov opos hietpyei rrjs YjKvOias, riv KaroiKOvai Tcov TdKvdwv ol TTpoaayopevopevoL Sa/aat

Keipbivas xchpas, r-qv re 1jKv9a)v /cat JiaKrpiavcvv, en he /cat rcbv ^Apiavajv, vifjrjXorepas elvac rijs *lv8LKrjs, coar evXoycos els Trjv VTTOKeifievrjV )(a)pav Travraxodev avppeovcras rds Xi^dhas e/c rov /car' oXiyov TTOielv rovs tottovs Kadvypovs /cat yevvdv ^

1

A fuller

Kwra^vrov Dindorf

:

KorappuTov.

account of this incident

is

given in

Book

17. 93.

But Alexander did not reach the river system of the Ganges, the error being due to a confusion of the Ganges with the lo

BOOK

II.

37.

3-6

nations being fearful of both the multitude and the strength of the beasts. In fact even Alexander of Macedon, although he had subdued all Asia, refrained from making war upon the Gandaridae alone of all for when he had arrived at the Ganges peoples river with his entire anxiy, after his conquest of the rest of the Indians, upon learning that the Gandaridae had four thousand elephants equipped for war he gave up his campaign against them.^ The river which is nearly the equal of the Ganges and is called the Indus rises like the Ganges in the north, but as it empties into the ocean forms a boundary of India ; and in its course through an expanse of level plain it receives not a few navigable rivers, the most notable being the Hypanis,^ Hydaspes, and Acesinus. And in addition to these three rivers a vast number of others of every description traverse the country and bring it about that the land is planted in many gardens and crops of every description. Now for the multitude of rivers and the exceptional supply of water the philosophers and students of nature among them advance the folloAving cause The countries which surround India, they say, such as Scythia, Bactria, and Ariana, are higher than India, and so it is reasonable to assume that the waters which come together frona every side into the country lying below them, gradually cause the regions to become soaked and to generate a multitude of ;

Indus cp. W. W. Tarn, " Alexander and the Ganges," Journal of Hellenic Studies, 43 (1923), 93 &. * In Book 17. 93. 1 and Arrian, 5. 24. 8, this river is called the Hyphasis, which is the name preferred by most modem

Sutlej, a tributary of the

writers.

Strabo

;

(15. 1. 27, 32),

and Quintus Curtius

(9. 1

.

however,

calls it

the Hypanis,

35), Hypasis.

u

DIODORUS OF SICILY TToraiicbv

TrXrjdog.

lSlov

Se

tl

avfJi^aLvei

Trepi

Tiva Tcbv Kara rrjv *lvSiKr)v TToraixaJv rov ovofiat,6ixevov HtXXav, peovra 8' e/c rtvo? oficovvfiov

em yap

tovtov fxovov rcov aTrdvTUiv irorafjLcov ovSev rcbv eyMjSaAAo/xeVcov els avrov eTTtTrAet, TTOvra S' 61? rov ^vdov KaraSveraL rrapaSo^ajg. 38. Trjv S' oXrjv ^IvScKTjv ovaav VTrepneyedrj Aeyerat KaroLKelv eOvrj ttoAAo, /cat TravroBaTrd, Kal Kprjvrjs'

Tovrcov pLTjhev ex^i^v rr)v i^ ^PXV^ yiveaiv err-qXvv, aAAa TTavra SokcIv VTrdpxeiv avroxOova, Trpos 8e TOUTOts"

/u.7jre

^€vlk7]v OLTTOiKLav TTpoaSex^crdaL TTcoTTore

dvearaXKevai [xvOoXoyovaL 8e rovs dpxo.Lordrovs dv6panrovs rpo(j>aZs fJiev KeXP^fydai roLS avrofxdrcjjs veX

yovs exovri irpos ajravra

^VXV^

oXtyov

yeveadai, rrjs t,c^cp Kat avvep-

;^etpas'

/cat

Xoyov

/cat

dyxi'^oiav.

M.v6oXoyovoL 8e irapd roZs 'Ii'Sots' ol XoyicxjraroL, rrepl ou ^ av ecr] crvvropLcos KadrJKOV hLeXOeiv. yap ev rols apxaiordrois

Kaprrols ^pldovaa

/cat

drroXavaiv 7rape;\;eTat

StoTrep d^idcjiOopog

x^P^^

/xextt

to)

^ttCTtAet

elvai,

D, Dindorf, Vogel

TToXXiqv

tols dvdpcoTeKVOju Kat

/cat tt^? et? ttjv ttoXiv

davTas, olXktj Siacfyepovrag. ox^verai Be (Lairep

rives

(f)aaiv,

X^P'^ TrXeLGTOvs /cat re /cat jxeyeOet ttoXv tovto to C,a)ov ov^

Ii'Soji'

i^rjXXayjxevcos,

dXX

ofiOLcos

kvougi he rovs p^ev eXaxicrrovg pirjvag e/c/catSe/ca, rovs Se oKroj/catSe/ca. riKTOVGt 8e 2 TrXelarovs Kaddrrep /cat Ko.rd TrXeZorov ev, iTTTTOi ro rpecfyovGi ro yevvquev at ^ [xrjrepes eir err] e^. L,a)GL o ot TrAetcrrot KaOdirep 6 pLaKpo^Lcoraros dvdpcoTTOS, ol Se pdXiGra yrjpaGavres ^rrj Sta/cocrta. ilitcrt oe Trap Ivoots" /cat cTTt Toys' qevovs apxov3 res rerayp-evoi Kal aal

e^ovoiav

expvaav

dXKxj

piiav e^ avToJv ^aaLXtKrjv

Kat

po^P-J]

Stevey/cetv

avaTTjaapievriv he yvvaiKihv aTpaToirehov yvpLvdaai

re

TOVTO

/cat

rti'a? Ta)V 6p.6pcov

KaTaTroXep,rjaat,

2 av^op,evr]g Be ttjs TTepi avTTjV dpeTTJs ^ KpaTOVVTOS Vogel.

3°

MSS:

KaroiKovvTos

re

/cat 86^r]s

Rhodomann,

Dindorf,

BOOK among as

II.

these peoples the

do the

men and

44.

1-45. 2

women

in acts of

train for war just manly valour are in no

mse inferior to the men. Consequently distinguished women have been the authors of many great deeds, not in Scythia alone, but also in the territory bordering upon it. For instance, when Cyrus the king of the Persians, the mightiest ruler of his day, made a campaign with a vast army into Scythia, the queen of the Scythians not only cut the army of the Persians to pieces but she even took Cyrus prisoner and crucified him ^ and the nation of the Amazons, after it was once organized, was so distinguished for its manly prowess that it not only overran much of the neighbom'ing territory but even subdued a large part of Europe and Asia. But for our part, since we have mentioned the Amazons, we feel that it is not foreign to our purpose to discuss them, even though what we shall say will be so marvellous that it will resemble a tale from mythology. 45. Now in the country along the Thermodon river,2 as the account goes, the sovereignty was in the hands of a people among whom the women held the supreme power, and its women performed the services of war just as did the men. Of these women one, who possessed the royal authority, was remarkable for her prowess in war and her bodily strength, and gathering together an army of women she drilled it in the use of arms and subdued in war some of the neighbouring peoples. And since her valour and fame increased, she made war upon ;

* There are many different accounts of the death of Cyrus, but they all agree that he met his end fighting on the far eastern border of his empire. 2 In Pontus (cp. Strabo, 12. 3. 14-15).

31

DIODORUS OF SICILY avvexios

Kai TTJs

irrL

ra

Tr^-qaioxiopo. rcbv idvcx>v arpareveiv,

TVX'TjS evpoovGTjs (fipovqiJLaTOS liXTTLpbTrXaadai,

Ovyarepa {xev "Apeo? avrrju irpoaayopevaai, rots S' dvSpdai TrpoaveZp^at rds raXaoLovpyiag /cat rag rayv yvvaiKcov /car o'tKovg ipyaaias. vofJLOvg re /caraSet^at, 8t' Jjv rds p-^v yvvaiKag /cat

€771

3

rovg TToXepLLKovg

dycovas

Trpoayeiv,

avSpdat Tarreivcoaiv koX hovXeiav

8'

rot?

rcov

TrepLaTTreLV.

8e yevvojpiivcov rovs p,ev dppevas eTrrjpovv

to.

re

GKeXrj /cat rovs ^pa^l-ovas, dxp'tjcrrovg /caracr/ceua-

rds TToXep^LKas xP^^^S) Tcov 8e d-qXvrepcov Tov he^Lov piaarov eTre/caov, Iva ptrj Kara rds l,ovT€S TTpos

d/c/xa? ^

Twp

acop^drajv eTratpo/xevos" ivoxXfj'

d(f>' "^g

atTta? avpL^rjvaL to edvos tcov 'Ap.at,6vo)V Tavriqg

KadoXov he Siacf)epouaav

4 Tvx^tv rfjg Trpoariyopiag.

avTTjv

KOI

GVV€(J€L

(jrpaTrjyia

ttoXlv

Kriaai

fxkv

tov Qepp-coSovTog TTorafjiov, Towo/xa QepLiarKvpav, Kat ^aatXeia /caracr/ceyaaai TTepL^orjra, Kara 8e ra? GTpaTeias iTnp,€Xop.ep,eydXrjv rrapd rag e/Cj8oAa?

vrjv TToXv rrjs

evra^iag to

/Ltev

TrpojTov /caraTToAe-

pLTJaai TrdvTag Tovg opiopovg P-^XP^ '^°^ TamtSo? Kat TavT-qv p,€V raura? Tag 5 TTora/xoy. aai

TTpd^eig Xap.TTpG)g

iTTLTeXeaap^evrjv

/cat

/caret

Tiva

p-dx'QV

dyojVLaap,€V7jv 'qpcoiKojg TeXevTrjaai tov

^LOV.

46. ALahe^ap^evrjV 8e

^auiXelav

^rjAtoo-ai

p,€V

ttjv TavTTjg

dpeTrjv

ttjv

dvyarepa rrjg

p,rjrp6s,

VTTep^aXeaOaL Se rat? Kara piipog Trpd^eai. ^

32

aKfias

Dindorf

:

fidxas.

ttjv

Tag

BOOK

II.

45.

2-46.

I

people after people of neighbouring lands, and as the tide of her fortune continued favourable, she was so filled with pride that she gave herself the appellation of Daughter of Ares but to the men she assigned the spinning of wool and such other domestic Laws also were estabduties as belong to women. lished by her, by virtue of which she led forth the women to the contests of war, but upon the men she fastened humiliation and slavery. And as for their children, they mutilated both the legs and the arms of the males, incapacitating them in this way for the demands of war, and in the case of the females they seared the right breast that it might not project when their bodies matured and be in the way; and it is for this reason that the nation of the Amazons received the appellation it bears.^ In general, this queen was remarkable for her intelligence and ability as a general, and she founded a great city named Themiscyra at the mouth of the Thermodon river and built there a famous palace furthermore, in her campaigns she devoted much attention to miUtary discipline and at the outset subdued all her neighbours as far as the Tanais river. And this queen, they say, accomplished the deeds ;

which have been mentioned, and fighting brilliantly ended her life heroically. 46. The daughter of this queen, the account continues, on succeeding to the throne emulated the excellence of her mother, and even surpassed her in

in a certain battle she

1

Amazon

is

commonly derived from

d

and

fxa^os, a

form

of fj-aoTos ("breast"), and so means "without a breast," because the right breast was got rid of, that it might not hinder the use of the bow. For a slightly different account, cp. Book 3. 53.

33

DIODORUS OF SICILY [xev

yap irapOivovs

a-no ttjs Trpcorrjs rjXiKias ev re

rats d-jpaig yvjxvdl,eLV Kol Kad'

dcxKelv

7j[ji€pav

rd

TTpos TToXejxov dvqKovra, KaraSel^aL 8e kol dvaias

pieyaXoTTpeTTels "Apet re kol 'Apre/xiSt rfi Trpoaa2 yopevo[xevr) TavpoTToXo)' arparevaaaav 8' els Tqv

TTepav rod TavdtSog TTorapLov ^(^(vpav KaraTToXefiijaai

ra

Trdvra

edvrj

rd

avve^cf]

QpaKrjS'

rrjs

/Lte;)^pt

dvaKdfJufjaaav Se jxerd ttoXXojv Xavyelv Ik ttjs TTarpiSos 8 to. TO jJLvaos. avp.pi.ax'qaaaav Se tols Tpcocrt [xera rrjv "E/cropo? reXevrrjV noXXovg aveXelv roJv '^XX'qvojv, dpiarevaaaav S' avrrjv ev TTJ TTapard^ei Karaarpei/jai rov ^lov rjpcoiKOJs VTT A^iXXecog dvaipedeXaau. rwv p.ev ovv 'A/zal,ovihcx)v iaxdrrjv Tavrrjv Xlyovaiv avSpeia SieveyKelv, Kat TO XoLTTOv dec to eOvog TaTieivovpevov aaOevrjaai TravreXchs' Sio Kat /cara rovs veojTepovs Kaipovs, eneLSdv TLves irepL Trjg avrajv dvSpeias Ste^tcuCTi, [JLvdovs rjyovvraL TreTrXaafievovs rag 7T€pL Tojv

Apiat,ovL8cov dp)(atoXoyLas.

47. 'H/xets- S' p^ep-q

TTJs

avoLKCLOv

Trpos

eTTel to.

Acrias'

dpKTOvs

'q^Livaap.ev

/ce/cAt/i,eVa

dvaypa(j)7]g,

ett'at vopiLl,op.ev to. Trept

ovk

tcov '^Trep^opiojv

p,v6oXoyovp.€va SceXdelv. rcov yap rds TraAatd? pivdoXoytas dvayeypacjiOToyv 'EKarato? Kat Tives erepoL TOTTOLs

^aaiv

iv

toIs

dvTLrrepag

Kara tov ajKeavov

eti^at

ttjs

vrjaov

KeArtKTy?

ovk eXdrroj

^ Quintus Smyrnaeus (1. 24 f.) says that she killed her sister Hippolyte on a hunt, whUe hurling her spear at a stag. ^ There seems good reason (see R. Hennig, " Die Anfange des kultxn-ellen und Handelsverkehr in der Mittelmeerwelt,"

Historische Zeitschrift, 139 (1928), 1-33) to see in this people who live " beyond the north wind," as their name signifies,

36

BOOK

II.

46. 4-47.

I

people and remembering against them their past injuries, waged continuous wars against the nation to such a degree that they left in existence not even the name of the race of the Amazons. For a few years after the campaign of Heracles against them, they say, during the time of the Trojan War, Penthesileia, the queen of the surviving Amazons, who was a daughter of Ares and had slain one of her kindred, fled from her native land because of the sacrilege.^ And fighting as an ally of the Trojans after the death of Hector she slew many of the Greeks, and after gaining distinction in the struggle she ended her hfe heroically at the hands of Achilles. Now they say that Penthesileia was the last of the Amazons to ^^in distinction for bravery and that for the future the race diminished more and more and then lost all its strength consequently in later times, whenever any writers recount their prowess, men consider the ancient stories about the Amazons this

;

be

to

fictitious tales.

47. Now for our part, since we have seen fit to make mention of the regions of Asia which he to the north, we feel that it ^vill not be foreign to our

purpose to discuss the legendary accounts of the Hyperboreans.^ Of those who have written about the ancient myths, Hecataeus and certain others say that in the regions beyond the land of the Celts ^ there Ues in the ocean an island no smaller an early acquaintance of the Greeks, through the medium of the Celts, with Britain and its inhabitants. In this chapter Apollo would be the Celtic sun-god Borvon, and the " sacred precinct of Apollo would be the famous Stone Age remains '

'

of Stonehenge. ^

i.e.

GauJ.

37

DIODORUS OF SICILY TavTTjv

St/ceAia?.

TTJs

VTrapxetv

Kara rag

fiev

apKTOUS, KaroLKetodai he vtto tojv ovojxa^oiJilvoiv '^Trep^opeoiV

^opeiov

Tjvorjs'

TTaiJL(f>opov,

2

tov TToppcoTepco Keladai. rrjs ovaav S' avrrjv evyecov re /cat S' evKpaaia SLa(f)epovaav, Slttovs

olTTO

eVt

pLvdoXoyovai 8 iv avrfi ttjv Arjrd) yeyovevaf Sto /vXXajv

SaKpvcov

oajxaZ'S

/cat

TTOt/ctAat?

tcov Stet-

T'^v Te yap ap.vpvav Kat tov 7Tpoav tcov toiovtcov ^opTOt Kat fjLOV ddfjivoL jSa^etat ToaavTai 7T€va€tg eycoSet? KapTTO(f)opovaai rag aTToppotag

TrpoarrvevaeLg

/cat

veardrag. v re koI rcov dXXoiv drjpiojv Kal SpaKovrojv i^T^XXayixeva)v rots' re pLeyeOeai Kal IvhiKrjv rat's aXKaZs, op.oia>s Se Kac rovs vrept rrjv iXe(f)avras, VTrep^dXXovra^ rolg re oyKois Kal rrXrjQeaiVy ert 8e rais dXKalg. 52. Ov fjiovov 8' iv ravrai? ratg )(wpaLS C