Social Memory in Athenian Public Discourse

Research Question: Lycurgus\u27 use of King Codrus as historical paradig

Polis, Tribes and Demes as Interdependent Memory Communities

In their analysis of the Athenians’ shared image of their past as an essential element of Athenian collective identity, scholars have largely focused on polis-wide commemorative activities such as the Athenian public funeral oration for the war dead. Taking the inherent multipolarity of social memory into account, this paper examines the collective memories of two types of Athenian sub-groups, namely demes and tribes, and explores how their shared memories and the ‘official’ Athenian polis tradition mutually influenced and sustained each other in 5th- and 4th-century Athenian public discourse

Social memory in 4<super>th</super>-century Athenian public discourse.

This dissertation examines the uses and meanings of the past in 4th-century Athenian public discourse, using Thebes' role in Athenian memory as a case study. While previous scholarship has studied historical allusions in the Attic orators, by and large it has focused on rhetorical aspects, the orators' sources, and their immediate political goals. By contextualizing the orators' allusions within a complex net of shared remembrances and beliefs, I seek to assess the ideological and emotional power of these memories. They were crucial factors in political decision making, and not just empty phrases or propagandistic cover-ups for Realpolitik. The concept of social memory is a useful analytical tool, since it allows viewing the manifestation and transmission of a shared image of the past as a dynamic process which leaves room for contestation, acknowledges the interdependence between ideology and social memory and regards the past as a repository for future decision making. By examining various carriers of social memory---including oral traditions, monuments, rituals, and books---I assess how deeply a specific memory was rooted in Athenian historical consciousness and ultimately how persuasive it was. I explain common distortions in its transmission and determine the leeway orators had in departing from predominant versions. Thebes' collaboration with the Persians in 480 B.C. became an essential part of the Athenian memory of the Persian Wars. The heroic experience of repelling the barbarian invaders cast the Athenians as champions of Greek liberty---and led to forgetting Plataea's contribution at Marathon. The Theban archenemies came to epitomize the traitors of Hellas. Given this hostile predisposition, memory of Thebes' support for the exiled Athenians in 404 B.C. was precarious. Still, the diplomatic practice of listing former benefits in analogous situations (395, 383-79, 335) transmitted this memory by repeatedly reviving it in Athenian public discourse. Finally, Thebes' proposal to eradicate Athens in 405/4 left a traumatic mark on Athenian collective consciousness, while the alleged ritual destruction of Crisa provided a vivid paradigm for shaping this memory. This approach to the meanings of the past in public discourse both enhances our understanding of Athenian ideology and policy and provides a model for other studies of historical social memory.Ph.D.Ancient historyClassical literatureLanguage, Literature and LinguisticsSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125509/2/3192786.pd