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Contents of the Fifteenth 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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While these things were going on,
Jason,1 tyrant of Pherae, because of
his superior shrewdness as a general and his success in attracting many of his neighbours into
an alliance, prevailed upon the Thessalians to lay claim to the supremacy in Greece; for this
was a sort of prize for valour open to those strong enough to contend for it.
[2]
Now it happened that the Lacedaemonians had sustained a great disaster
at Leuctra; that the Athenians laid claim to the mastery of the sea only; that the Thebans were
unworthy of first rank; and that the Argives had been brought low by civil wars and internecine
slaughter. So the Thessalians put Jason forward as leader2 of the
whole country, and as such gave him supreme command in war. Jason accepted the command, won
over some of the tribes near by, and entered into alliance with Amyntas king of the
Macedonians.
[3]
A peculiar
coincidence befell in this year, for three of those in positions of power died about the same
time. Amyntas,3 son of
Arrhidaeus, king of Macedonia died after a rule of twenty-four years, leaving behind him three
sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip. The son Alexander4 succeeded to the throne and ruled for one year.
[4]
Likewise Agesipolis, king of the Lacedaemonians, died after
ruling a year, the kingship going to Cleomenes his brother who succeeded to the throne and had
a reign of thirty-four years.5
[5]
Thirdly, Jason of Pherae, who had been chosen ruler of
Thessaly and was reputed to be governing his subjects with moderation, was assassinated,6 either, as Ephorus writes, by seven young men who conspired together
for the repute it would bring, or, as some historians say, by his brother Polydorus. This
Polydorus himself also, after succeeding to the position of leader, ruled for one year.
[6]
Duris7 of
Samos, the historian, began his History of the Greeks at this point.These then were the events of this year.
1 See chap. 54.5.
2 Jason was made Tagus of the Thessalians, Xen. Hell. 6.1.18. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2.237, prefers Diodorus' date 371 to Xenophon's 375/4. For Jason's ambitions see Cary, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.83. Jason's death (chap. 5) caused the sudden collapse of unification in Thessaly and opened the door to Theban aggressions.
3 See Book 14.89, 92.3; chap. 19.2 and Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2.56-58.
4 See chap. 67.4. The beginning of his reign is placed in the archonship of Phrasicleides 371/0 in the Marm. Par. 72.
5 This should be sixty years ten months. See Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 4.2.157.
6 See Xen. Hell. 6.4.31-32.
7 Duris carried his history at least to the death of Lysimachus (FHG, 2.468 and fr. 33).
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 (16 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(13):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PY´THIA
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), TAGUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MACEDO´NIA or MACEDON
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THESSA´LIA
- Smith's Bio, Agesi'polis Ii.
- Smith's Bio, Aleuas
- Smith's Bio, Alexander
- Smith's Bio, Alexander Ii.
- Smith's Bio, Amyntas II.
- Smith's Bio, Cleo'menes Ii.
- Smith's Bio, Duris
- Smith's Bio, Jason
- Smith's Bio, Meneisa'us
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Smith's Bio, Amyntas II.
- Cross-references in notes from this page (2):
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