Shaping History: The Case of the Tyrannicides and the Marathonomachoi
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Marion Meyer
Abstract
The Athenians Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed one of Peisistratos’ sons, and the Athenians who fought at Marathon have in common that their performance suited the interests of subsequent generations so much that their history is clouded by tales constructed in favour of these interests. In fact, the very terms tyrannoktonoi and Marathonomachoi1 are part and testimony of legends that turned historical persons into local heroes, and not only in the metaphorical sense. The making of these myths was the topic of two excellent monographs, written by the historians Vincent Azoulay (on the Tyrannicides, 2014; English translation in 2017) and Michael Jung (on the battles of Marathon and Plataiai as lieux de mémoire, 2006). As an archaeologist, I concentrate on the physical and visual aspects of the mythmaking.
Abstract
The Athenians Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed one of Peisistratos’ sons, and the Athenians who fought at Marathon have in common that their performance suited the interests of subsequent generations so much that their history is clouded by tales constructed in favour of these interests. In fact, the very terms tyrannoktonoi and Marathonomachoi1 are part and testimony of legends that turned historical persons into local heroes, and not only in the metaphorical sense. The making of these myths was the topic of two excellent monographs, written by the historians Vincent Azoulay (on the Tyrannicides, 2014; English translation in 2017) and Michael Jung (on the battles of Marathon and Plataiai as lieux de mémoire, 2006). As an archaeologist, I concentrate on the physical and visual aspects of the mythmaking.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface IX
-
Part I: Epos
- Historicizing Homer’s Myth in the Homeric Epigrams 1
- The Aristotelian Constitution of the Ithacans and Homero-Cyclic Reception of the Odyssey 13
- “Let Me Tell You an Ancient Deed of the Distant Past”: The Epic Hero as a ‘Historian’ 25
- Authority, Power and Governability in the Odyssey: The Mythical Birth of the Polis 37
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Part II: Lyric Poetry
- Domestic and Political Order in the ‘Foundation Myths’ of Partheneia 55
- Myth, Memory and a Massacre on the Road to Dodona: Reinterpreting an Elegiac Lament from Archaic Ambracia (SEG 41.540A) 77
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Part III: Historiography
- Shaping History: The Case of the Tyrannicides and the Marathonomachoi 97
- The Myth of Troy Turned into History: Thucydides’ Archaeology 119
- The Argive Women, Beards and Democracy 131
- Seeking Agariste 147
- The Herodotean Myth on the Origin of the Scythians 167
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Part IV: Drama
- (Re)writing a Sicilian Myth: The Palici and Aeschylus’ Aitnaiai 187
- “To Be Buried or Not to Be Buried?” Necropolitics in Athenian History and Sophocles’ Antigone 207
- Sophocles’ Trachiniae and the Peloponnesian War: A New Perspective 221
- The Authority of ‘History’ in the Exodus of Sophocles’ Trachiniae 245
- Nectanebo II and Philip II in Mythic Disguise: Comedy’s Burlesque of History 263
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Part V: Loci and Tempora
- The Myth of Opheltes at Nemea in the Context of Rivalry in the Archaic Peloponnese 277
- Marginal Remarks on the Concept of ‘Time of Origins’ in Classical Greek Culture 291
- Myth and History in the Court of Archelaus 303
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Part VI: Roman Era and Late Antiquity
- “Oceans Rise, Empires Fall”: Cyclical Time and History in Seneca’s Quaestiones Naturales 3 321
- Herodotus’ Phoenix between Hesiod and Papyrus Harris 500, and Its Legacy in Tacitus 339
- Empire, Ethnicity, Exegesis: Lucian on Interpretations of Greek Myth in the Roman Mediterranean 359
- Myth and History in Libanius’ Imperial Speeches 375
- Myth and Levels of Language in the Octavia 387
-
Appendix
- The Editors 407
- The Contributors 411
- Index Rerum et Nominum Notabiliorum 415
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface IX
-
Part I: Epos
- Historicizing Homer’s Myth in the Homeric Epigrams 1
- The Aristotelian Constitution of the Ithacans and Homero-Cyclic Reception of the Odyssey 13
- “Let Me Tell You an Ancient Deed of the Distant Past”: The Epic Hero as a ‘Historian’ 25
- Authority, Power and Governability in the Odyssey: The Mythical Birth of the Polis 37
-
Part II: Lyric Poetry
- Domestic and Political Order in the ‘Foundation Myths’ of Partheneia 55
- Myth, Memory and a Massacre on the Road to Dodona: Reinterpreting an Elegiac Lament from Archaic Ambracia (SEG 41.540A) 77
-
Part III: Historiography
- Shaping History: The Case of the Tyrannicides and the Marathonomachoi 97
- The Myth of Troy Turned into History: Thucydides’ Archaeology 119
- The Argive Women, Beards and Democracy 131
- Seeking Agariste 147
- The Herodotean Myth on the Origin of the Scythians 167
-
Part IV: Drama
- (Re)writing a Sicilian Myth: The Palici and Aeschylus’ Aitnaiai 187
- “To Be Buried or Not to Be Buried?” Necropolitics in Athenian History and Sophocles’ Antigone 207
- Sophocles’ Trachiniae and the Peloponnesian War: A New Perspective 221
- The Authority of ‘History’ in the Exodus of Sophocles’ Trachiniae 245
- Nectanebo II and Philip II in Mythic Disguise: Comedy’s Burlesque of History 263
-
Part V: Loci and Tempora
- The Myth of Opheltes at Nemea in the Context of Rivalry in the Archaic Peloponnese 277
- Marginal Remarks on the Concept of ‘Time of Origins’ in Classical Greek Culture 291
- Myth and History in the Court of Archelaus 303
-
Part VI: Roman Era and Late Antiquity
- “Oceans Rise, Empires Fall”: Cyclical Time and History in Seneca’s Quaestiones Naturales 3 321
- Herodotus’ Phoenix between Hesiod and Papyrus Harris 500, and Its Legacy in Tacitus 339
- Empire, Ethnicity, Exegesis: Lucian on Interpretations of Greek Myth in the Roman Mediterranean 359
- Myth and History in Libanius’ Imperial Speeches 375
- Myth and Levels of Language in the Octavia 387
-
Appendix
- The Editors 407
- The Contributors 411
- Index Rerum et Nominum Notabiliorum 415
