Title: ὑμετέρη ἀρχῆθεν γενεή : redefining ethnic identity in the cult origins and mythical aetiologies of Rhianus' ethnographical poetry
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2019, vol. 24, iss. 1, pp. 195-206
Extent
195-206
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2019-1-13
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/141167
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This is a meticulous survey about foundation stories, cult origins and mythical Aetia in Rhianus' ethnographic poetry. During the Hellenistic period, interest in aetiology became very strong and there was an increasing focus on obscure and local stories from all over the Greek world and beyond. Harder (2012: p. 25) claims that as "the world became larger the need for a shared Greek past became stronger as well". Rhianus of Crete was a Hellenistic epic poet and grammarian of the second half of the third century BC. My contribution aims to give a fresh rereading of the poetic fragments and suggests that Rhianus chose places and myths that Greeks of the third century BC, and especially immigrants to Egypt, Syria or Italy, would enjoy reading because they were reminded of mainland Greece and their Greek identity. Both genealogy and aetiology leap from the crucial beginning, be that a legendary founder or one-time ritual event, to the present with a tendency to elide all time in between. The powerful aetiological drive of Rhianus' ethnography works to break down distance and problematize the nature of epic time. In Rhianus' aetiologies, we find a strong connection between the narrative present and the mythical past as a "betrayal" of the Homeric tradition. The absolute devotion to the past in Homer collapses in Rhianus' aetiology, where we find a sense of cultural continuation.
Note
This article is the result of a research paper presented at the Laetae Segetes VI Conference (Brno, 12–14 November 2018).
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[4] Burstein, S. B. (2008). Greek Identity in the Hellenistic Period. In K. Zacharia (Ed.), Hellenisms: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity from Antiquity to Modernity (pp. 59‒77). Aldershot, England: Burlington.
[5] Cameron, A. (1995). Callimachus and his Critics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[6] Castelli, C. (1994). Riano di Creta. Ipotesi cronologiche e biografiche. Rendiconti dell'Instituto Lombardo, 128, 73‒87.
[7] Castelli, C. (1998). Riano di Creta, Messeniaca. Testo ed esegesi dei frammenti. Acme, 51, 3‒50.
[8] Cross, G. N. (1932). Epirus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[9] Delcourt, M. (1965). Pyrrhos et Pyrrha. Recherches sur les valeurs du feu dans les légendes helléniques. Paris: Université de Liège.
[10] Fantuzzi, M. (1996). Ätiologie. In H. Cancik, & H. Schneider (Eds.), Der Neue Pauly (Vol. 1; pp. 369‒371). Stuttgart: Metzler.
[11] Fantuzzi, M., & Hunter, R. (2004). Tradition and Innovation in Hellenistic Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12] Flacelière, R. (1968). Pyrrhos et Delphes. Revue des Études Anciennes, 70(3), 295‒303. | DOI 10.3406/rea.1968.3820
[13] Fox, M. (1996). Roman Historical Myths: The Regal Period in Augustan Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[14] Funke, S. (2000). Aiakidenmythos und epeirotisches Königtum: der Weg einer hellenischen Monarchie. Stuttgart: Steiner.
[15] Hammond, N. G. L. (1992). The Macedonian State. The Origins, Institutions and History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[16] Harder, M. A. (1994). Travel descriptions in the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius. In Z. von Martels (Ed.), Travel Fact and Travel Fiction: Studies on Fiction, Literary Tradition, Scholarly Discovery and Observation in Travel Writing (pp. 16‒29). Leiden ‒ New York: E. J. Brill.
[17] Harder, M. A. (2003). The Invention of Past, Present and Future in Callimachus' "Aetia". Hermes, 131(3), 290‒306.
[18] Harder, M. A. (2012). Callimachus' Aetia: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[19] Hubbard, T. H. (2007). Pindar, Heracles the Idaean Dactyle, and the foundation of the Olympic games. In G. P. Schaus, & S. R. Wenn (Eds.), Onward to the Olympics: Historical Perspectives on the Olympic Games (pp. 27‒45). Waterloo Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
[20] Kirichenko, A. (2018). Callimachus Romanus: Propertius' Love Elegy and the Aetiology of Empire. In J. Klooster, & A. Wessels (Eds.), Inventing Origins. The Function of Aetiology in Antiquity (pp. 1‒33). London: Routledge.
[21] Kowalzig, B. (2007). Singing for the gods: performances of myth and ritual in archaic and classical Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[22] Lasserre, F. (1976). L'historiographie grecque a l'epoque archaique. Quaderni di Storia, 4, 113‒142.
[23] Livrea, E. (Rev.). (1984). Supplementum Hellenisticum, edd. H. Lloyd-Jones, & P. Parsons. Gnomon, 57, 592‒601.
[24] Lloyd-Jones, H., & Parsons, P. (Eds.). (1983). Supplementum Hellenisticum. Berlin: De Gruyter.
[25] Lobel, E. (1964). The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (Part XXX). London: Egypt Exploration Society.
[26] Mairs, R. (2010). An 'Identity Crisis'? Identity and its Discontents in Hellenistic Studies. In M. Dalla Riva et al. (Eds.), Meetings between Cultures in the Ancient Mediterranean. XVII International Congress of Classical Archaeology. Roma, 22‒26 September 2008 (Bollettino di Archeologia on line; pp. 55–62). Rome: Direzione generale per le antichita.
[27] Malkin, I. (2004). I ritorni di Odisseo. Colonizzazione e identità etnica nella Grecia Antica. Roma: Carocci.
[28] Malkin, I. (2011). A Small Greek World. Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxford ‒ New York: Oxford University Press.
[29] Nelson, M. (2007). The First Olympic Games. In G. P. Schaus, & S. R. Wenn (Eds.), Onward to the Olympics: Historical Perspectives on the Olympic Games (pp. 47‒58). Waterloo Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
[30] Nicolai, R. (2015). Historiography, Ethnography, Geography. In F. Montanari, S. Matthaios, & A. Rengakos (Eds.), Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship (pp. 1090‒1125). Leiden – Boston: Brill.
[31] Pousadoux, P. (1998). Mythe et histoire des ancêtres royaux de Pyrrhus: formes et functions de la généalogie mythique dans l'historiographie de la monarchie épirote. In D. Auger, & S. Said (Eds.), Généalogies Mythiques. Actes du 8 Colloque du Centre de Recherches Mythologiques de l'Université de Paris X (Chantilly, 14‒16 septembre 1995) (pp. 419‒443). Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
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[33] Rigsby, K. J. (1986). Notes sur la Crète hellénistique. Revue des Études Grecques, 99, 350‒360. | DOI 10.3406/reg.1986.1479
[34] Sakellariou, M. B. (1977). Peuples préhelléniques d'origine indoeuropéenne. Athens: Ekdotikè Athenon.
[35] Schmid, P. B. (1947). Studien zu griechischen Ktisissagen. Freiburg: Paulusdruckerei.
[36] Sordi, M. (2001). Integrazione, mescolanza, rifiuto nell'Europa antica: il modello Greco e il modello romano. In G. Urso (Ed.), Integrazione, mescolanza, rifiuto. Incontri di popoli, lingue e culture in Europa dall'antichità all'umanesimo. Atti del convegno internazionale, Cividale del Friuli, 21‒23 settembre 2000 (pp. 17‒26, esp. p. 19). Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
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[38] Valverde-Sánchez, M. (1989). El Aition en las Argonáuticas de Apolonio de Rodas: estudio literario (Vol. 17). Murcia: Universidad de Murcia.
[39] Veyne, P. (1976). Le pain et le cirque. Paris: Seuil.
[40] Yalouris, N. (1998). Ancient Elis: the cradle of the Olympic games. In R. K. Barney, K. B. Wamsley, S. G. Martyn, & G. H. MacDonald (Eds.), Global and Cultural Critique: Problematizing the Olympic Games. Fourth International Symposium for Olympic Research (pp. 167‒172). London ‒ Ontario: University of Western Ontario.