WORLD HISTORY I
Diodorus Siculus on How to Do History
Name:
Date:
The historian Diodorus Siculus was born in Sicily and wrote during the middle of
the first century B.C. His Bibliotheca Historica (“Historical Library”), written in
Greek, was a “universal” history covering earliest times down to 54 B.C. In book
III, chapter 11, sections 1-3, Diodorus described the methodology he had
employed in one part of his work.
Directions: Based on the following excerpt from Diodorus, answer the questions.
Please use your own words, be exact, and write in complete sentences.
It is necessary for us to distinguish among the historians, since many
who have written about Egypt and Ethiopia have either believed false
reports or invented many things for the sake of persuasion, and so
they may rightly be disbelieved. Agatharchides of Cnidus in the
second book of his history of Asia, and the compiler of geographies
Artemidorus of Ephesus in his eighth book, and certain others who
lived in Egypt have narrated most of what I set forth above and have
written accurately in most respects. For when I traveled to Egypt, I
met many priests, and I conversed with not a few ambassadors from
Ethiopia who were there at the time. After inquiring carefully of them
about everything and testing the accounts of the historians, I
composed my record to conform with what most of them agreed on.
1. Why did Diodorus distrust the work of some historians?
2. Given your answer to the previous question, what sort of historians did
Diodorus find reliable?
3. Diodorus stated that Agatharchides of Cnidus and Artemidorus of Ephesus
wrote “accurately in most respects.” How could he have known?
4. In your opinion, why did Diodorus think Egyptian priests and Ethiopian
ambassadors were reliable authorities?
5. Based on the last line of the passage, how did Diodorus decide what to include
in his account?
6. Find and record a dictionary definition of the word “inference.” Then find an
example of inference among your answers to the above questions and explain
how answering the question required you to make an inference.