Series | Antiquity Studies
Edited book | Un monde partagé : la Sicile du premier siècle av. J.-C. entre Diodore et Cicéron
Chapter | Moralising and Immersive Big Man History
Moralising and Immersive Big Man History
Diodorus’ Representation of Gelon, Dionysius I, and Agathocles
Abstract
This article analyses Diodorus’ accounts of the Sicilian tyrants Gelon, Dionysius I, and Agathocles, on a stylistic and thematic basis. It argues that the significant differences between the three narratives are due partly to Sicilian social memory, partly to the differences between the sources used by Diodorus, and it offers some thoughts on the lost works of Timaeus of Tauromenium and Duris of Samos. However, in their present form, all three narratives are Diodoran: he chose to take them over from his sources in differing levels of detail, he kept the themes he wanted to keep and probably left out others, and he may well have added his own evaluative phrases and historiographical or moral-didactic comments. His Sicilian narrative is dominated by ‘big men’ in a way that his narrative of mainland Greece is not (apart from the Alexander narrative in book 17), and all three narratives are designed to show the importance and interest of Sicily, for the double purpose of pleasurable reading and moral improvement.
Submitted: Feb. 13, 2023 | Accepted: April 11, 2023 | Published Dec. 19, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Duris of Samos • Narrative • Agathocles • Dionysius I • Immersion • Diodorus • Gelon • Narratology • Timaeus of Tauromenium
Copyright © 2023 Lisa Irene Hau. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-742-5/003
