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Isotheoi and heroikai timai in Diodorus: between myth, classical Sicily, and Hellenism
This paper provides a reassessment of the formulae isotheoi/heroikai timai (or, less commonly, thysiai) as used in Diodorus. By combining the textual analysis of the Bibliotheke with a broader discussion of Diodorus’ contacts with 1st-cent. BC cultural debates about the granting of cultic honours to political leaders, it will be shown that this author not only applied these categories more systematically than his Hellenistic predecessors and contemporaries, but also adapted them to his personal project of universal history.
After commenting upon Diodorus’ use of isotheoi and heroikai timai for characters of the ancient mythical past, a few historical case studies from the Hellenistic period and Classical Sicily will be explored in detail.
It will be argued that the heroic honours assumedly granted to Alexander in India and in Alexandria are the result of Diodorus’ consistent attempt to remove or downgrade references to Alexander’s divinity and divine honours in the Bibliotheke. Conversely, Diodorus’ problematic statement about Dio of Syracuse being granted heroikai timai alive in 356/5 BC will be confirmed by means of a reappraisal of the evidence with a methodology focusing on negotiation practice in moments of acute political crisis. -
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