THE SCENE: Diodorus Siculus, a Sicilian historian writing in the 1st Century BC, came up with an origin of the world which intriguingly seems to combine Jewish religious thought with Greek scientific rationalism.
THE TEXT: In the beginning, as their account runs, when the universe was being formed, both heaven and earth were indistinguishable in appearance and their elements were intermingled: then, when their bodies separated from one another, the universe took on in all its parts the ordered form which is now seen; the air was set in continual motion, the fiery element gathered into the highest regions, since anything of such a nature moves upward by reason of its lightness. It is for this reason that the sun and the multitude of other starts became involved in the universal whirl. All that was mud-like and thick and contained moisture sank because of its weight into one place, and as this continually turned about upon itself it became compressed, and out of the wet it formed the sea, and out of what was firmer, the land, which like potter’s clay was entirely soft. Then, as the sun’s fire shone upon the land, it first of all became firm, and then, since its surface was in a ferment because of the warmth, portions of the wet swelled up in masses in many places, and in these pustules covered with delicate membranes made their appearance. Such a phenomenon can be seen even yet in swamps and marshy places whenever, the ground having become cold, the air suddenly and without any gradual change becomes intensely warm.
While the wet was being impregnated with life by the reason of the warmth in the manner described, by night the living things forthwith received their nourishment from the mist that fell from the enveloping air, and by day were made solid by the intense heat; and finally, when the embryos had attained their full development and the membranes had been thoroughly heated and broken open, there was produced every form of animal life. Of these, such as had partaken of the most warmth became winged and set off to the higher regions, while such as retained an earthly consistency came to be numbered in the class of creeping things and of the other land animals, and those whose composition partook the most of the wet element gathered into the region congenial to them, receiving the name of water animals.
– Bibliotheca Historica, Diodorus Siculus, 1st Century BC
