| The focus of this dissertation is the Greeks' use of myth in the context of various types of interstate relations, including the formation of alliances, calls for assistance, exchanges of polity, and territorial conquest. The relationship between two states involved in such diplomacy was often grounded in a putative consanguinity, a perception usually (but not always) shared by both communities. In these cases, the common ancestor was most often a legendary personage, e.g., a hero such as Herakles or an abstract personage such as Doros.; Unlike previous studies of kinship diplomacy, which have focused on the meaning of kinship terms (e.g., sugg3&d12; n3ia ) in inscriptions, my work is primarily concerned with the myths themselves. I am looking more directly at the Greeks' perceptions and political uses of their myths, noting the historical circumstances of the diplomacy, the myths involved in the justification of the diplomacy, and the degree to which the participants actually believed in the links. Among the instances recounted in literary sources is the overture made by Alexander the Great to the Thessalians. Traditions predating Herodotos connected the Argeads of Makedon with Herakles, a kinship that allowed Alexander to justify his rule of the Thessalians, as the descendants of Herakles' son Thessalos. There is also considerable epigraphical evidence of kinship diplomacy, especially in the Hellenistic period. Since in most cases the basis for the kinship to which the inscription refers is not given, we cannot be sure which myths were meant to explain how the two states were related. To answer this difficulty, I propose a solution involving local myth. Kinship diplomacy entails an expression of identity at the international level, and since local myths can provide a glimpse into a given community's sense of its own identity, they are logical avenues to explore.; From this evidence I draw the following conclusions: (1) kinship myth was an expression of identity, (2) the Greeks readily believed in the historicity of such explanations of identity, and (3) the goals of kinship diplomacy, such as attainment of asylia and grants of polity, represent real-life consequences of mythical events. |
