Which Sicilian historian also wrote an account of the Greco-Persian Wars?

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Which Sicilian historian also wrote an account of the Greco-Persian Wars? Diodorus Siculus did, in his universal history, the Bibliotheca historica.

Diodorus lived in the first century BC and came from Agyrium in Sicily. His 40-book history covered events from mythic antiquity to his own era, although much of the work is now lost. Books 11 and 12 preserve a substantial narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, including the campaign that led to Thermopylae in 480 BC.

Diodorus was not the main eyewitness-style source for Thermopylae. That distinction belongs chiefly to Herodotus, whose Histories were written roughly a century earlier. Diodorus was a later compiler who drew on earlier works, especially the now-lost universal history of Ephorus, and sometimes presents versions that differ in emphasis or detail from Herodotus.

The other choices are ancient Greek historians, but they do not fit the description as precisely. Xenophon wrote about the retreat of the Ten Thousand, Thucydides focused on the Peloponnesian War, and Polybius lived later and concentrated on Rome’s rise and Mediterranean politics.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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