Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence
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Emanuele Greco
Abstract
The literary sources provide us with some information about the heroic cults reserved for the founders of cities, as we can read in the classic works of Roland Martin and Angelo Brelich, for example. Herodotus (6.38) reminds us that the cult of the oikist in the Greek poleis was a nomos. The situation looks very different, however, if we limit ourselves to the archaeological evidence, which cannot always be directly attributed to the ritual practice. This article examines some emblematic cases. We begin with the dedication to Antiphemus, oikist of Gela, represented in a graffito on the base of an Attic kylix of the end of the sixth century; this is followed by an analysis of the sources relating to the herōon of Theseus in Athens. The two cases allow us to compare a mythical hero (Theseus) with a historical one (Antiphemus), which also clearly illustrates the difference between the traditions of Greece and that of the apoikiai. We then pass to a discussion of the Cyrene documentation (the mnēma of Battus, whose identification as a herōon is, archaeologically, the most secure) and to the cases of Selinunte, Iasus and Poseidonia, proposing, for each one, a critical reading of the archaeological evidence.
Abstract
The literary sources provide us with some information about the heroic cults reserved for the founders of cities, as we can read in the classic works of Roland Martin and Angelo Brelich, for example. Herodotus (6.38) reminds us that the cult of the oikist in the Greek poleis was a nomos. The situation looks very different, however, if we limit ourselves to the archaeological evidence, which cannot always be directly attributed to the ritual practice. This article examines some emblematic cases. We begin with the dedication to Antiphemus, oikist of Gela, represented in a graffito on the base of an Attic kylix of the end of the sixth century; this is followed by an analysis of the sources relating to the herōon of Theseus in Athens. The two cases allow us to compare a mythical hero (Theseus) with a historical one (Antiphemus), which also clearly illustrates the difference between the traditions of Greece and that of the apoikiai. We then pass to a discussion of the Cyrene documentation (the mnēma of Battus, whose identification as a herōon is, archaeologically, the most secure) and to the cases of Selinunte, Iasus and Poseidonia, proposing, for each one, a critical reading of the archaeological evidence.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
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Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
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Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
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Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
-
Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
-
Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
-
Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
