Foundation Myths and Politics in Ancient Ionia

List of contents

1. Introduction: identity and the construction of cultural difference; 2. Foundation myths and politics; 3. Ionia; 4. Miletus: violence and bloodshed; 5. Chios and Samos: land and island; 6. Colophon and Ephesus: founding mothers; 7. Being Ionian: the Ionian League, Ionian migrations, and Smyrna; 8. Conclusions.

About the author

Naoíse Mac Sweeney is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leicester, specialising in the study of ethnicity, identity and migration. She has published widely in the fields of ancient history, archaeology, race relations, international development and peacebuilding studies, and she is the author of Community Identity and Archaeology (2011). Naoíse has also pursued her research interests through archaeological fieldwork in Turkey, in particular as part of the Kilise Tepe Archaeological Project.

Summary

Examines Ionian foundation myths during the archaic and classical periods, exploring the construction of civic identities. The conclusions challenge conventional understandings of Ionia as well as traditional ideas about Greek ethnicity, suggesting that there was a more diverse conception of Greekness in antiquity than has often been assumed.

Product details

• Authors: Naoise Mac Sweeney, Naoíse Mac Sweeney
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2019
• EAN: 9781108729963
• ISBN: 978-1-108-72996-3
• No. of pages: 253
• Dimensions: 187 mm x 246 mm x 12 mm
• Series: Cambridge Classical Studies; Print on Demand; Cambridge Classical Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Pre and early history; Non-fiction book; HISTORY / Ancient / General, Social & cultural history, Ancient World, Politics and government, Middle Eastern history, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, BCE to c 500 CE, Classical Greek & Roman archaeology