DIODORUS SICULUS AND HIS HOME TOWN OF AGYRIUM IN THE BIBLIOTHÊKÊ

Abstract

This article argues that the eye-catching appearances of Diodorus Siculus’ home town of Agyrium in the Bibliothêkê Historikê— a town otherwise overlooked in the historical record — are not simply acts of self-promotion or aggrandizement. Rather, they were a response to contemporary actions taken by Roman elites against their provincial subjects during Diodorus’ lifetime, which stood in opposition to those behaviours of clemency and moderation that Diodorus portrays as necessary for a just and stable empire. The article analyses the three major appearances of Agyrium in the Bibliothêkê , demonstrating how Diodorus establishes his home town as bearing prosperous agriculture critical to Roman food security, as a ‘city of great renown’ on a par with Syracuse, Carthage and Corinth, and as a pious benefactor to its worthy neighbours. The article concludes that Diodorus’ glorification of Agyrium is an implicit critique of Roman rule during a period of provincial anxiety and civil unrest, in line with his intention that the Bibliothêkê serve as a work of moral utility, within a socio-political context where explicit critique of the Roman political elite was all too dangerous.