Syracuse, which was a source for books 19-21 of the Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus. Duris also wrote historical annals of Samos arranged according to the lists of the priests of Hera; and a number of treatises on literary and artistic subjects. List of works Parts of eight of Duris's works survive, ranging from 33 fragments of his Histories to a single, small fragment from his On Sculpture. A full listing is: Histories (also listed as Macedonica and Hellenica; 33 fragments) On Agathocles (also listed as Libyca; 13 fragments) Annals of Samos (22 fragments) On Laws (2 fragments) On Games (4 fragments) On Tragedy (and perhaps On Euripides and Sophocles; 2 fragments) On Painters (2 fragments) On Sculpture (1 fragment) Later opinions Of those later authors who knew Duris's work, few praise it. Cicero accords him qualified praise as an industrious writer. Plutarch used his work but repeatedly expresses doubt as to his trustworthiness. Dionysius of Halicarnassus speaks disparagingly of his style. Photius regards the arrangement of his work as altogether faulty. By contrast with recent predecessors such as Ephorus, Duris served as the exemplar of a new fashion for "tragic history" which gave entertainment and excitement greater importance than factual reporting. In Plutarch's "Life of Pericles" a telling example is Duris's elaborate (and, according to Plutarch, exaggerated) description of cruelty and extensive destruction at Samos when Athenian forces, led by Pericles, subdued the island. Recent critics, believing that Duris was a pupil of Theophrastus, have attempted either to demonstrate that "tragic history" agreed with the teachings of the Peripatetic school or to analyse Duris's motives for taking a different line from his supposed teachers. The debate was inevitably inconclusive. References Bibliography Editions of the fragments C. Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum vol. 2 (Paris, 1848) pp. 466–488. [Greek with Latin translation and commentary] F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker vol. 2A pp. 1136–1158 [Greek text]; vol. 2C pp. 115–131 [German commentary] Modern scholarship J. P. Barron, "The Tyranny of Duris of Samos" in Classical Review new series vol. 12 (1962) pp. 189–192. C. O. Brink, "Tragic History and Aristotle's School" in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society vol. 186 (1960) pp. 14–19. A. Dalby, "The Curriculum Vitae of Duris of Samos" in Classical quarterly new series vol. 41 (1991) pp. 539–541. R. B. Kebric, In the Shadow of Macedon: Duris of Samos. Wiesbaden, 1977. R. B. Kebric, "A Note