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This analysis of the relationship between collective identities and politics in ancient Greece focuses on four key types of identity --
polis identity, ethnicity (e.g., Dorian or Achaean), regional, and Greek -- and places these multiple and flexible self-perceptions at the center of a new account of politics in the Greek West.
List 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
About the author
Mark R. Thatcher is Assistant Professor of the Practice, Department of Classical Studies, at Boston College.
Summary
This analysis of the relationship between collective identities and politics in ancient Greece focuses on four key types of identity -- polis identity, ethnicity (e.g., Dorian or Achaean), regional, and Greek -- and places these multiple and flexible self-perceptions at the center of a new account of politics in the Greek West.
Additional text
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.
