Kinship myth in ancient Greece / Lee E. Patterson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patterson, Lee.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kinship--Greece--History.

Kinship.

Mythology, Greek.

Civilization, Ancient.

Greece--Foreign relations.

Greece.

Greece--Civilization.

Greece--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In ancient Greece, interstate relations, such as in the formation of alliances, calls for assistance, exchanges of citizenship, and territorial conquest, were often grounded in mythical kinship. In these cases, the common ancestor was most often a legendary figure from whom both communities claimed descent. In this detailed study, Lee E. Patterson elevates the current state of research on kinship myth to a consideration of the role it plays in the construction of political and cultural identity. He draws examples both from the literary and epigraphical records and shows the fundamental difference between the two. He also expands his study into the question of Greek credulity—how much of these founding myths did they actually believe, and how much was just a useful fiction for diplomatic relations? Of central importance is the authority the Greeks gave to myth, whether to elaborate narratives or to a simple acknowledgment of an ancestor. Most Greeks could readily accept ties of interstate kinship even when local origin narratives could not be reconciled smoothly or when myths used to explain the link between communities were only "discovered" upon the actual occasion of diplomacy, because such claims had been given authority in the collective memory of the Greeks.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Abbreviations

Note on Translations and Transliterations

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Kinship and Constructed Identities

2. Credulity and Historical Causation

3. Kinship Myth in the Literary Sources

4. Kinship Myth in the Literary Sources

5. Alexander the Great

6. Epigraphical Evidence of Kinship Diplomacy

7. Epigraphical Evidence of Kinship Diplomacy

8. Conclusions

Appendix One. The Historical Context of Plutarch, solon 8–10

Appendix Two. Greek Myth and Macedonian Identity

Appendix Three. A Tale of Two Phoci

Notes

Bibliography

Index Locorum

General Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-292-78479-1

OCLC:

700457641