Library of History
Also known as: Bibliotheca Historica — Mythic Sections, Library of History — Books 3–5 (Myths)
Diodorus Siculus’ universal history preserves extensive mythic narratives—especially in Books 3–5—offering rationalizing, euhemeristic retellings of Greek heroic cycles (Heracles, Theseus, Perseus) and origins of peoples and cults.
Description
The mythic books of Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History assemble and systematize stories from Greek heroic legend and related Mediterranean traditions. Diodorus summarizes earlier authors, often with a rationalizing method and an interest in ethnography, geography, and the origins of institutions. Books 3–5 cover Libyan and western myths (Amazons, Atlas), Heracles’ exploits across the Mediterranean, Theseus and the Cretan cycle, Dionysus’ wanderings, and foundation tales of islands and cities. While not a primary poetic source, Diodorus is indispensable for preserving variant details and local traditions otherwise lost. His accounts of Heracles’ itineraries, the Cretan labyrinth, the Amazons, and Dionysus’ campaigns offer a connective map across myth, cult, and colonization narratives.
Historiography
Diodorus’ forty-book work survives complete for Books 1–5 and 11–20, with the remainder fragmentary; the mythic concentration lies in Books 3–5. He draws on earlier historians and mythographers (e.g., Hecataeus, Ephorus, Dionysius Scytobrachion), frequently rationalizing gods as culture-heroes (euhemerism). Medieval manuscripts transmit the text, supplemented by excerpts preserved in Byzantine florilegia. The Library influenced later compilers and offered source material to scholiasts and Renaissance mythographers.
Date Notes
A universal history in 40 books composed in the mid–late 1st century BCE; mythic material is concentrated chiefly in Books 3–5 and incorporates earlier Greek and Near Eastern traditions.
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Heracles
- Dionysus
- Zeus
- Osiris
- Isis
Myths
- The Labors of Heracles
- The Life and Wanderings of Dionysus
- Isis and Osiris (Hellenistic Account)
- Amazons and the Atlanteans
Facts
- Diodorus composed a forty-book universal history; Books 3–5 preserve extensive mythic narratives.
- His method is frequently rationalizing and euhemeristic, treating gods as elevated culture-heroes.
- Accounts map heroic itineraries onto real geography, linking myths to colonization and cult origins.
- Heracles’ deeds are presented as a Mediterranean-wide circuit including Libya, Iberia, and Italy.
- The Cretan cycle (Minos, Labyrinth, Theseus, Daedalus) receives extended treatment and local variants.
- Dionysus appears as a civilizing conqueror whose travels spread viticulture and rites.
- Diodorus preserves details about Amazons, Atlas, and western edges of the mythic world.
- Perseus’ Gorgon episode and Andromeda rescue are summarized with genealogical consequences.
- Primary transmission of Books 1–5 is complete; later books are fragmentary.
- Sources include earlier historians and mythographers now lost or partial, making Diodorus a key witness.