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Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece
Polybius boldly declared that 'now that all places have become accessible by land or sea, it is no longer appropriate to use poets and writers of myth as witnesses of the unknown' (4.40.2). And yet, in reality, the significance of myth did not diminish as the borders of the known world expanded. Storytelling was always an inextricable part of how the ancient Greeks understood their environment; mythic maps existed alongside new, more concrete, methods of charting the contours of the earth. Specific landscape features acted as repositories of myth and spurred their retelling; myths, in turn, shaped and gave sense to natural and built environments, and were crucial to the conceptual resonances of places both unknown and known. This volume brings together contributions from leading scholars of Greek myth, literature, history, and archaeology to examine the myriad intricate ways in which ancient Greek myth interacted with the physical and conceptual landscapes of antiquity. The diverse range of approaches and topics highlights in particular the plurality and pervasiveness of such interactions. The collection as a whole sheds new light on the central importance of storytelling in Greek conceptions of space.
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Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece
Polybius boldly declared that 'now that all places have become accessible by land or sea, it is no longer appropriate to use poets and writers of myth as witnesses of the unknown' (4.40.2). And yet, in reality, the significance of myth did not diminish as the borders of the known world expanded. Storytelling was always an inextricable part of how the ancient Greeks understood their environment; mythic maps existed alongside new, more concrete, methods of charting the contours of the earth. Specific landscape features acted as repositories of myth and spurred their retelling; myths, in turn, shaped and gave sense to natural and built environments, and were crucial to the conceptual resonances of places both unknown and known. This volume brings together contributions from leading scholars of Greek myth, literature, history, and archaeology to examine the myriad intricate ways in which ancient Greek myth interacted with the physical and conceptual landscapes of antiquity. The diverse range of approaches and topics highlights in particular the plurality and pervasiveness of such interactions. The collection as a whole sheds new light on the central importance of storytelling in Greek conceptions of space.
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Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece

Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece

Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece
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Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece

Myths on the Map: The Storied Landscapes of Ancient Greece

Overview

Polybius boldly declared that 'now that all places have become accessible by land or sea, it is no longer appropriate to use poets and writers of myth as witnesses of the unknown' (4.40.2). And yet, in reality, the significance of myth did not diminish as the borders of the known world expanded. Storytelling was always an inextricable part of how the ancient Greeks understood their environment; mythic maps existed alongside new, more concrete, methods of charting the contours of the earth. Specific landscape features acted as repositories of myth and spurred their retelling; myths, in turn, shaped and gave sense to natural and built environments, and were crucial to the conceptual resonances of places both unknown and known. This volume brings together contributions from leading scholars of Greek myth, literature, history, and archaeology to examine the myriad intricate ways in which ancient Greek myth interacted with the physical and conceptual landscapes of antiquity. The diverse range of approaches and topics highlights in particular the plurality and pervasiveness of such interactions. The collection as a whole sheds new light on the central importance of storytelling in Greek conceptions of space.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780191093388
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication date: 07/14/2017
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 384
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Greta Hawes is a lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the Australian National University. She specializes in the study of Greek myth, particularly the examination of ancient contexts for storytelling, the Greeks' assessment of mythic phenomena in their own culture, and the modes of interpretation to which these gave rise. Her first book, Rationalizing Myth in Antiquity (OUP, 2014), charts ancient dissatisfaction with the excesses of myth and various attempts to cut them down to size; it argues that this rationalizing tradition offers important insights into the practical difficulties inherent in distinguishing myth from history in antiquity and into the fragmented nature of myth itself as an emic concept. Her current research explores the spatial dynamics of ancient storytelling and the various intricate relationships between myths and land. She is currently working on a project exploring the place of myth in an ancient travel guide, the Periegesis of Pausanias (2nd century AD).

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
List of Figures
List of Contributors
0. Of Myths and Maps, Greta Hawes
1. Walking through History: Unlocking the Mythical Past, Katherine Clarke
2. Cities-Before-Cities: 'Prefoundational' Myth and the Construction of Greek Civic Space, Daniel W. Berman
3. Landscapes of the Cyclopes, Richard Buxton
4. Mapping the Hellespont with Leander and Hero: 'The Swimming Lover and the Nightly Bride', Elizabeth Minchin
5. Centaurs and Lapiths in the Landscape of Thessaly, Emma Aston
6. Meddling with Myth in Thebes: A New Vase from the Ismenion Hill (Thebes Museum 49276), Stephanie Larson
7. Callimachus and the Poetics of the Diaspora, Jeremy McInerney
8. Pausanias' Arcadia, Between Conservatism and Innovation, Julie Baleriaux
9. Rivers Run Through It: Environmental History in Two Heroic Riverine Battles, Christina A. Salowey
10. Fountains as Reservoirs of Myth and Memory, Betsey A. Robinson
11. Scandalous Maps in Aeschylean Tragedy, Aara Suksi
12. Imaginary Islands in the Hellenistic Era: Utopia on the Geographical Map, Iris Sulimani
13. Imaginary Itineraries in the Beyond, Robert L. Fowler
14. Islands of Knowledge: Space and Names in Imperial Mythography, Charles Delattre
15. Serpents in the Soul: The 'Libyan Myth' of Dio Chrysostom, Richard Hunter
Endmatter
Bibliography
Index locorum
General index
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Related Subjects

Literature
Social Sciences
Anthologies
Folklore & Mythology
Ancient & Medieval Literature Anthologies
Greco-Roman Folklore & Mythology
Literature
Social Sciences
Anthologies
Folklore & Mythology
Ancient & Medieval Literature Anthologies
Greco-Roman Folklore & Mythology

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