Abstract
This study consists of two parts. The first one describes the composition of Diodorus' Book I on Egypt and revises, section by section, the question of the sources of the historian. The second one notes and analyses a number of errors in the text of its historical section (chapters 45-68), in order to determine the reasons for these. First of all, it deals with the monument of king Osymandyas, nowadays known as the Ramesseum: The analysis focuses on metric data (measurements of architectural structures and statues) and the military reliefs of the second peristyle (war against the Bactrians), as well as the designation of the as a in chapter 49. After that, it deals with the succession of the kings of Egypt anterior to Psammeticus, whose name and activities Diodorus mentions: Attention is drawn to the anomalous position of the builders of the Giza pyramids and to that of the Theban kings who are said to have reigned before the founding of Memphis. This study confirms the importance of Hecataeus of Abdera's work, now lost, as a source for Diodorus' Book I, while excluding the writings of Manetho. There is no reason to believe that Diodorus visited the Library of Alexandria, or the Theban region.
| Translated title of the contribution | Diodorus and Egypt: About the sources of Book I of his Bibliothèque historique and the most significant errors |
|---|---|
| Original language | French |
| Pages (from-to) | 87-123 |
| Number of pages | 37 |
| Journal | Les Études Classiques |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |