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Contents of the Sixteenth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95
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So, having established peaceful conditions everywhere throughout Sicily, he caused the
cities to experience a vast growth of prosperity.1 For many
years, because of domestic troubles and border wars, and still more because of the numbers of
tyrants who kept constantly appearing, the cities had become destitute of inhabitants and the
open country had become a wilderness for lack of cultivation, producing no useful crops. But
now new settlers streamed into the land in great numbers, and as a long period of peace set in,
the fields were reclaimed for cultivation and bore abundant crops of all sorts. These the
Siceliot Greeks sold to merchants at good prices and rapidly increased their wealth.
[2]
It was by reason of the funds so acquired
that many large constructions were completed in that period. There was, first, the structure in
Syracuse on the Island called the "Hall of the Sixty Couches," which surpassed all the other
buildings of Sicily in size and grandeur.2 This was built by Agathocles the despot, and since, in its pretentiousness,
it went beyond the temples of the gods, so it received a mark of Heaven's displeasure in being
struck by lightning. Then there were the towers along the shore of the Little Harbour with
their mosaic inscriptions of varicoloured stones, proclaiming the name of their founder,
Agathocles. Comparable to these but a little later, in the time of Hiero the king, there was
built the Olympieium in the market and the altar beside the theatre, a stade in length and
proportionally high and broad.3
[3]
Among the lesser cities is to
be reckoned Agyrium, but since it shared in the increase of settlers due to this agricultural
prosperity, it built the finest theatre in Sicily after that of Syracuse, together with temples
of the gods, a council chamber, and a market. There were also memorable towers, as well as
pyramidal monuments of architectural distinction marking graves, many and great.
1 Nepos Timoleon 3.1-2. These observations are probably Diodorus's own, based on his personal experience and knowledge. Note the reference to his city, Agyrium, in chap. 83.3. Kokalos, 4 (1958) is devoted exclusively to articles concerned with the effect of Timoleon on Sicily.
2 This was a large banqueting hall. Cp. the tent of one hundred couches employed by Alexander the Great (Book 17.16.4).
3 These monuments are mentioned by Cicero In Verrem 2.4.53.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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References (8 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(4):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AGY´RIUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SYRACU´SAE
- Smith's Bio, Hieron Ii.
- Smith's Bio, Megillus
- Cross-references in notes from this page
(1):
- Cicero, Against Verres, 2.4.118
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(3):
- LSJ, ἑξηκοντά-κλι_νος
- LSJ, ἐπι-σημα^σία
- LSJ, προσανα-τρέχω
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