The Politics of Identity in Greek Sicily and Southern Italy

by Mark R. Thatcher

Overview

The Politics of Identity in Greek Sicily and Southern Italy offers the first sustained analysis of the relationship between collective identity and politics in the Greek West during the period c. 600-200 BCE. Greeks defined their communities in multiple and varied ways, including a separate polis identity for each city-state; sub-Hellenic ethnicities such as Dorian and Ionian; regional identities; and an overarching sense of Greekness. Mark Thatcher skillfully untangles the many overlapping strands of these plural identities and carefully analyzes how they relate to each other, presenting a compelling new account of the role of identity in Greek politics. Identity was often created through conflict and was reshaped as political conditions changed. It created legitimacy for kings and tyrants, and it contributed to the decision-making processes of poleis. A series of detailed case studies explore these points by drawing on a wide variety of source material, including historiography, epinician poetry, coinage, inscriptions, religious practices, and material culture. The wide-ranging analysis covers both Sicily and southern Italy, encompassing cities such as Syracuse, Camarina, Croton, and Metapontion; ethnic groups such as the Dorians and Achaeans; and tyrants and politicians from the Deinomenids and Hermocrates to Pyrrhus and Hieron II. Spanning the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, this study is an essential contribution to the history, societies, cultures, and identities of Greek Sicily and southern Italy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197586464
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2021
Series:	Greeks Overseas
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	14 MB
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About the Author

Mark R. Thatcher is Assistant Professor of the Practice, Department of Classical Studies, at Boston College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments List of abbreviations List of figures Maps 1. Introduction Scope of research Theorizing identity A typology of identities Seeking identity in antiquity 2. Becoming Achaean in Italy The first Achaeans Croton: athletes and heroes Metapontion: insiders and outsiders Conclusion 3. Syracusan Tyranny and Identity Politics The tyrant's house and Syracusan identities Greeks and barbarians Responses to tyranny Conclusion 4. Ruling Grain-Rich Sicily Myth and cult Sicilian politics Conclusion 5. Shifting Identities in Thucydides' Sicily Kinship diplomacy Camarina's polis identity Rhetoric and identity Conclusion 6. Continuity and Change in the Third Century Greeks and barbarians in southern Italy Being Syracusan in the third century Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"T. presents a thoughtful analysis of the ways by which shifting communal identities impacted political decisions and how different political contexts in turn caused a change in salience for the polis, regional, sub-Hellenic ethnic and Greek identities held by Sicilian and Italian Greeks. These overlapping identities create a four-fold structure for the study, and one of the strengths of the work is T.'s demonstration of the interconnected and interdependent nature of these four identities." — JESSICA M. ROMNEY, The Classical Review

From the Publisher