“Shagi / Steps” the Journal of the SASH

SHAGI/STEPS 6(2)

Keywords: myth, political identity, Greek polis, Hellenistic kingdoms, Roman Republic, Athens, Herakles, Theseus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Augustus

Abstract: The omnipresence of myths in images and texts in Greek and Roman societies poses a broad spectrum of general questions. This article discusses, first, the different capacities of the media: while texts focus on narration and an author’s reflection, images achieve visual presence, respond to the public’s expectations and testify to social preferences. Regarding the significance of myths for actual societies, their ontological status is defined not as symbols or metaphors of abstract concepts but as real models of a primordial past for human action and behavior. Regarding the references between present-time societies and their mythical past, four categories are established: genealogical descent, local reciprocity, paradigmatic exemplarity, and individual identification. The uses of these modes are shown to be stamped by the conditions of historical epochs. In Archaic Greece Herakles serves as a paradigmatic hero of the anthropological concept of competitive polis societies. In Classical Athens Theseus is conceived as a local protagonist of a new political concept of the polis-state based on collective identity. In the Hellenistic kingdoms from Alexander on heroic genealogy and identification are introduced as factors of monarchic charisma. Finally, the superior power of genealogical over paradigmatic strategies is demonstrated in the transition from the late Roman Republic to the principate of Augustus.

To cite this article: Hölscher, T. (2020). Actuality of myths in Ancient Greece and Rome: An essay in categorization. Shagi/Steps, 6(2), 11–32. (In Russian). DOI: 10.22394/2412-9410-2020-6-2-11-32.