THE SCENE: Writing in the 1st Century BC, the historian Diodorus Siculus writes a history of the origin of human civilization that sounds more than halfway plausible.
THE TEXT: As regards the first origin of mankind two opinions have arisen among the best authorities both on nature and on history. One group takes the position that the universe did not come into being and will not decay and that the race of men has existed from eternity; the other group holds that the universe came into being and will decay and maintains that men had their first origin at a definite time.
Here follows the account we have received concerning the first generation of the universe. They say the first men led an undisciplined and bestial life, setting out one by one to secure their sustenance and taking for their food the tenderest herbs and the fruits of wild trees. Then, after they had been attacked by wild beasts, they learned to come to one another’s aid, and by gathering together in this way from fear, they gradually came to recognize their mutual characteristics. The sounds they made were at first unintelligible and indistinct, yet gradually they came to give articulation to their speech, and by agreeing with one another upon symbols for each thing which presented itself to them, came to know among themselves the meaning attached to each term. Groups of this kind arose throughout the inhabited world and since each group organized its speech by mere chance, not all men had the same language. This explains the present existence of every conceivable kind of language. Out of these first groups came all of the original nations of the world.
– Bibliotheca Historica, Diodorus Siculus, 1st Century BC
[Image Credit: Neanderthal Caveman Painting by Charles R. Knight]
