I just finished reading Diodorus 16.66-17 for the first time. The narrative seems to leap quickly from Alexanders campaigns in Bactria/Sogdiana to India. There is no mention of the events at the sogdian rock, oxyarthes, his marriage to Roxana (or Roxana at all) or the death of Cleitus the black.
Why did Diodorus skip over these events?
Omissions in Diodorus
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Re: Omissions in Diodorus
Not skipped over, but lost. Diodorus, like others of the sources, has lacunae which means that parts of the narrative are lost. In Book 17, events between the death of Bessus and the massacre of the mercenaries at Massaca are all missing.Fingy wrote:I just finished reading Diodorus 16.66-17 for the first time. The narrative seems to leap quickly from Alexanders campaigns in Bactria/Sogdiana to India. There is no mention of the events at the sogdian rock, oxyarthes, his marriage to Roxana (or Roxana at all) or the death of Cleitus the black.
Why did Diodorus skip over these events?
ATB
Re: Omissions in Diodorus
I see the lacunae now. "The end of 328/7 and the beginning of 327/6 have been lost in a long break in the manuscript from which our text derives".
Re: Omissions in Diodorus
The text is lost but the events he covered are mentioned in the 'list of contents', so that we know that he placed a mass wedding at the same time as that to Roxane for instance.
When you think about, it free-choice is the only possible option.