3.

Do myths recounting the origins of ancient cities function solely for their own
societies, or were they equally/exclusively written with rival or neighbouring cities
in mind? Compare and contrast the origin myths of at least three different cities in
the ancient Greco-Roman world.

Origin myths lies within the wide realm of classical mythology exploring the

relationship between mortals and divinity. As a result, they are often ubiquitous in a

range of sources, from epic poetries, historical prose, to decorative art and

occasionally in civic religious rituals. 1 The constant feature of aetiology in classical

mythology, and often with co-existence various versions of narration on the same

city attracts mass attention from various study fields. As origin myths interact and

communicate with a range of ideologies within a spectrum of different levels of focus

and specification, largely from its contribution to humanity studies, to small areas

such as the relationship between the myth and its audience, reflects significant

influence to the world which it revolves in. This essay takes interest in the three

aspects introduced by Naoíse Mac Sweeney on looking at foundation and experiment

with all three approaches in examining foundation myths of their function within the

communities that they circulate in. 2 Through the lens of various sources composed

1
Sweeney, Naoíse Mac, ed, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), 1-19, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qh48v / jstor
In her book Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, Sweeney introduces three
2

approaches to foundation myth: 1. Positivist: foundation myths carry a collective of views on city
foundations from various perspectives, which can be interpreted as different episodes in history. They can
be stitched together to form an overarching historical narration 2. Constructivist: Individual myths as
representative of different political or strategic positions 3. Dialogues and discourse: The ongoing process
by ancient historians and poet on foundation of ancient Athens, Thebes and Rome,

the essay argues that the origin myths orient and revolves around its external

community rather than its own. Such was supported by interpretation of primary

narration suggesting rejection to rival communities and as possible methodology for

political propaganda. Additionally, the argument takes a twist in the definition of the

community to the city foundation and the community to the city’s territory,

reconsider the nature of city foundation and what the myths tells about ancient

colonialism. 3

The strive for supremacy among communities in autochthony myths reveals

acknowledgement to other tribes. While this ideal is often expressed through purely

praising the originality of the founding community of the city, the sense of inferiority

cannot be established without comparison with rival communities in mind.

Autochthony myths of Athens and Thebes in this case, is found significant in proving

such point, with their cynical view on aetiology, in a sense highlights their rejection

to external communal influence. 4 Both Athenians and Thebans are claimed to birth

of mythopoesis and the continual dialogue between stories, storytellers, and their audiences.
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19,
3
The phrase ancient colonialism here refers to invasion from a foreign community to the native land. It is
not a professionally recognized concept but rather a depiction of what is understood from my studies.
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
4
from the soil of Attica or Boeotia (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

1.2.1), which intends to show the purity and uniqueness of their relationship with

the land. 5 In Athens’s case, this can be understood as implicitly avoiding any

ancestry extraction or admixture of barbarian in their ancestry in order to establish

the prestigiousness and privilege in their foundation. 6 The myth encourages its

community to identify themselves as pure-blooded decedents of the earth-born

Erechtheus raised by Athena, which enhance their superiority among other mortal

communities. 7 This also sets a close relationship with the land and the Athenian

community. 8 Solidity in this case means a place that holds the lives of its community

permanently. 9 As archaeological evidence suggest Kerameikos cemetery at the foot

5
Berman, Daniel W, "The Double Foundation of Boiotian Thebes," Transactions of the American
Philological Association (1974-) 134, no. 1 (2004): 1-22, doi: 10.2307/25010831/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20054096 / jstor; Kallet-Marx, Robert Morstein, "Athens, Thebes, and the
Foundation of the Second Athenian League." Classical Antiquity 4, no. 2 (1985): 127-51, doi:
10.2307/25010831 /www.jstor.org/stable/25010831. / jstor and Detienne, Marcel, and Elizabeth Jones, "The
Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes, Athens, and Old-Stock French." Arion: A Journal of Humanities and
the Classics 9, no. 1 (2001): 46-55, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20163827 / jstor
6
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe." Phoenix 67, no. 1/2 (2013):
1-22, doi:10.7834/phoenix.67.1-2.0001. / https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7834/phoenix.67.1-2.0001 / jstor
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
7

8
Haarmann, Harald, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity
and Ethnic Self-identification," In Myth as Source of Knowledge in Early Western Thought: The Quest for
Historiography, Science and Philosophy in Greek Antiquity, 87-108, (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,
2015), doi:10.2307/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvc2rmjp.8 / jstor.
9
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and
Ethnic Self-identification", 87-108; Detienne, Marcel, and Elizabeth Jones, "The Art of Founding
Autochthony: Thebes, Athens, and Old-Stock French”, Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 9, no.
1 (2001): 46-55, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20163827 / jstor
of the Acropolis, buries the fallen soldiers from the Peloponnesian War. 10 This

enhances the originality and close relationship with the divine earth of Athenians,

born from and inhabit in the same pure land after death. Furthermore, the city’s

autochthonous narration illuminates the central position Athens holds in later Greek

expansions over other communities. 11 With the same ambition of claiming

relationship with the land, Thebes’s origin myth (Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.511-733) in

comparison, expresses potential counterbalance with other autochthony city states.

12
This can be found evident in a number of conflicts and wars between Thebes and

Athens such as the Peloponnesian War. 13 Noting that there is a shifting relationship

between the two city states during the war which makes is hard to define their

supreme position against each other. 14 Thebes changes its position of being the ally

10
Detienne and Elizabeth, "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes, Athens, and Old-Stock French”, 46-
55.
11
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and
Ethnic Self-identification", 87-108; Detienne and Elizabeth, "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes,
Athens, and Old-Stock French”, 46-55.
The foundation story of Thebes references (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.511-733). It is acknowledged that
12

this is a relatively late recount, as well as a Roman interpretation. However, the story depicts relatively fully
and comprehensively. It stresses the fierce and power inherited from the chthons. The Spatois grown from
the Ismenian serpent’s teeth killed by Cadmus indicates Theban’s relationship with underworld, one of the
primordial divinities. The Roman interpretation also leans towards a competitive approach which is
convenient in emphasizing Thebe’s autochthony supremacy with their strength in war.
Detienne and Elizabeth, "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes, Athens, and Old-Stock French”, 46-55;
Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta.", 9-17.
13
Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta.", 9-17.
14
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and
Ethnic Self-identification", 87-108; Detienne and Elizabeth, "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes,
Athens, and Old-Stock French”, 46-55; Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta.", 9-17.
of Athens or Sparta. 15 This flexible and dynamic relationship, however can be argued

as demonstrating autochthonous myths considers equality with other city states with

similar origins. 16 The dominant roles of Titan and Olympian gods take in Athens and

Thebes’s aetiology to some extent, projects what is beyond the realm of foundation

myths. 17 In reverse, autochthonic city myths could be addressing their rival or ally

communities implicitly through the earlier known stories on relationship between

gods in records like Hesiod’s Theogony (Hesiod, Theogony 1-24). The link between

aetiology and its broader mythological principles suggests mythology as prediction to

the development of society and culture in the ancient world as well as the

introduction to territorial declaration within human race. 18

With an emergence of colonial drive and expansion of community territory, origin

myths address external communities with an intention of political propaganda. This

methodology is often recognized with its strong and absolute expression or with

15
The relationship between Athens, and Thebes is concluded from description in a number of secondary
sources with assistant of some online researches.
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and Ethnic
Self-identification", 87-108; Detienne and Elizabeth, "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes, Athens,
and Old-Stock French”, 46-55; Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta.", 9-17.
16
Pelling, "Bringing Autochthony Up-to-Date: Herodotus and Thucydides", 471-483.
17
Properzio, Paul, "Telling Stories: The Myth Tradition From Homer To Gilgamesh To Vergil." The Classical
Outlook 88, no. 3 (2011): 79-81, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43940075/jstor
18
Murray, Oswyn, "History and Reason in the Ancient City", (Papers of the British School at Rome 59, 1991):
1-13, www.jstor.org/stable/40310917. / jstor; Properzio;, "Telling Stories: The Myth Tradition From Homer
To Gilgamesh To Vergil", 79-81.
extensive details, applying these strategies to incept a collective identity within their

target community. 19 Athens in this case built close association with the Ionian

community and seek ethnic self- identification with one of the major Greek tribe. 20

One of the earliest evidences is Homer’s direct link of Athenians to Ionians in Iliad,

addressing the two as equivalent to each other (Homer, Iliad 13.685-689). This

acknowledgement reflects the emergence of Athenian identity among the Ionians

and was later widely discussed among narratives during the 5th century. Solon’s

depiction of Athens as “the eldest land of Ionia” (Solon, Fragments 4a) stressing

Athens as the mother city of all the Ionians. Such relationship was further developed

with political ideals assimilated into it which can be supported by Herodotus’s

recount of the royal relationship of Athens (Herodotus, The Persian Wars 8.44.2).

Athenians and Ionians in this recount exist in parallel, Athenians as decedents from

Erechtheus and Ionians is genially related to Xuthus (Herodotus, The Persian Wars

8.44.2). As Xuthus’s is commander of the Athenian army (Herodotus, The Persian

Wars 8.44.2), the two together forms leaders for war. Herodotus’s writing reveals the

popular ideology of identifying Athenian and Ionian communities as one among the

19
Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta.", 9-17; Wilson, Walter T, "Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-
11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-Roman Foundation Narratives", (Journal of Biblical Literature 120, no.
1,2001): 77-99, doi:10.2307/3268594/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268594/ jstor
20
Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta."
among the nobles during the Peloponnesian War. 21 As a Greek historian who

recounts folk storytelling, his texts further reflects the heavy influence of political

agenda among major population in ancient Greece. The Ionic column supporting the

temple of Erechtheion on Acropolis (Fig.1. and Fig.2.) expresses propaganda through

form, unifying the identity between Athenian and Ionian at an urban scale. 22

Comparing to Athens’s direct adoption of the Ionian identity, Rome demonstrate

legitimacy and comprehensiveness in using myths as propaganda in order to boost

group solidarity of the city’s community. 23 Instead of introducing the citizen’s

identity as a known fact, Rome’s foundation myth extensively writes about its

neighbouring and rival communities, from Trojan to Sabine and Aboriginies. 24 This

can be considered colonial story telling done in a strategic way with an ambition to

take over the Ancient Greco-Roman world. 25 In order to do so, Romans

incorporated vivid and detailed information in their myth, while disregarding the

some violence depicted, potentially convince new immigrants to the city ( Livy,

21
Cartledge, Paul, Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History, 1300-362 BC (Sussex: Psychology Press, 2002),
108.
22
McGowan, Elizabeth P, "The Origins of the Athenian Ionic Capital", (esperia: The Journal of the American
School of Classical Studies at Athens 66, no. 2, 1997), 209-33. doi: 10.2307/148483 /
https://www.jstor.org/stable/148483 / jstor
23
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and
Ethnic Self-identification", 87-108.
24
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe.", 1-22.
25
Wilson, Walter T, "Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-Roman Foundation
Narratives", 77-99.
History of Rome 1.19-13; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.46.1-3).

The inclusiveness of other communities within their myth, certainly proved to be

successful later when the Roman expanded to Republic and Empire. 26 Rome’s

success was certainly well recognized and its foundation attracts a range of opinions

across ancient communities subjectively associating their culture with the foundation

of Rome. The collective iterations of myths across 8th century BCE to 1st century CE

portrayed conversational exchange between mythographers and historians inside

Greco-Roman communities. 27 The conversation constructively express political

agenda among societies as individuals, with a central theme of territorial

declaration. 28 Positively, the distant memories from various myths reveals human as

a whole beginning to form ethnic identities among communities. 29

26
Mike Duncan, “History of Rome”, transcribed by Mike Duncan, 2015.
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
27

28
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe.", 1-22; Sweeney,
Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19; Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda:
Athens and Sparta."; Wilson, Walter T, "Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-Roman
Foundation Narratives", 77-99; Patterson, Lee E, "Kinship Myth In The Literary Sources: Conquests and
Territorial Possession", In Kinship Myth in Ancient Greece, 69-82, (University of Texas Press,2010),
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/722750.9 / jstor
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
29
Fig.1. Erechtheion on Acropolis

Fig.2. Ionic Columns in Erechtheion

While there is no define concept of ethnicity in the classical world, ideology such as

foreign and originality can be substituted to understand and analyse myths on

aetiology. 30 This paragraph links colonial ideals with original ethnicity of the

foundation community, argues that origin myths explicitly tell stories of rival

communities. Viewing from contemporary, the foundations of Athens, Thebes and

Rome all involve invasion from a foreign individuals or community to the cities’

native land. These communities all became what is known as the rulers of the land.

In the development of Athens’s myth, Cercrops was an autochthonous mortal who

first ruled the Attica region (Apollodorus, The Library 3.14.1-2), while this is

considered native, the development of the story takes its turn to a foreign

foundation hero (Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.24.1). 31 Theseus departed from

his hometown in the island of Sphairia finally arrived at the land of Athens after

completing his quest defeating the Minotaur which made him the founding hero of

Athens (Pausanias Description of Greece 10.6.1). In this case, Theseus is technically

considered foreign to the Athenian community, thus the foundation established by

Theseus and his collective descents are not native to the land of Athens. Referencing

30
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe.", 1-22.
31
Pelling, "Bringing Autochthony Up-to-Date: Herodotus and Thucydides", 471-83.
to Herodotus discussion on ethnicity in the History, the collective and their rituals

and traditions define their origins and belonging (Herodotus, The Persian Wars

8.144.2–3). 32 This further support Theseus and his descendent community inherit

ethnicity of his home island of Sphairia. Therefore, the founding legend that evolves

around Theseus is considered external to Athens. In a sense, the myth could be

categorized as colonial storytelling, of stronger external forces taking over the rules

of Athens. 33 Noting that the myth evolves from autochthony towards hero

foundation in which the later version is more popular among story telling. 34 This

suggests collective value in pro-foreign foundation of cities, enhancing the Greeks as

a general powerful collective. 35 Thebes demonstrates a similar pattern in its

aetiology where Cadmus, the Greek hero, foreign to the land of Boeotia defeated the

Ismenian dragon and planted the first Thebans on their native land (Ovid,

Metamorphoses 3.511-733). In contrast, Rome as an immigrant foundation is more

straight-forward in demonstrating its founding community being rival. Livy’s and

Dionysius of Halicarnassus’s recount on the foundation of Rome both demonstrates a

32
This shows the emergence of the ethnicity concept.
33
Wilson, Walter T, "Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-Roman Foundation
Narratives", 77-99.
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
34

Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19; Wilson, Walter T,
35

"Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-Roman Foundation Narratives", 77-99;
Bremme, "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta", 9-17.
central core of mingling of people from various tribes. 36 Livy’s classical focus on

Romulus and Remus’s foundation, which suggests the central tribe’s ethnicity being

Trojan (Livy, History of Rome 1.1.9, 1.2.4-5) While Dionysius argues from a Greek

perspective the powerful Rome with origins from the Greeks (Dionysius of

Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.9-13,1.31 and 1.89). The analytical approach from

different ethnicity’s perspectives reveals a dynamic historical scope of various

narration on the same myth. 37 Such can also be found in earlier example of Ovid’s

Interpretatio Romana on foundation of Thebes. This shows antient communities

using mythology to seek a sense of belongings and strive for their own benefits

among tribes. 38

In conclusion, as the narration for social and civic ideology in mythology, origin

myths’ consideration on the external or rival community outweighs the focus on

their own communities. The arguments took a sequence from autochthony to

immigrant foundation, highlighting the core ideas among foundation myths. From

the ambition towards supremacy driven by competitive environment among ancient

36
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe.", 1-22.
Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.
37

38
Erich Gruen, "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe.", 1-22; Patterson, Lee E,
"Kinship Myth In The Literary Sources: Conquests and Territorial Possession", 69-82.
tribes, to using political propaganda as assistance for territorial expansion, which

then raises discussions on ethnicity and identity of communities within the upheaval

ancient world. With particular attention on how different cultural or methodological

perspectives influence the narration of aetiology, the examination drew a number of

insights into ancient storytelling. As the dominant resource used in ancient studies,

mythology exploring origins establish a relationship between mortal and divine

communities. 39 The central position mythology takes in ancient cultures reveals a

complex and dynamic relationship between gods and communities. Myths on

aetiology in this case provides people with a sustenance for their social ideas and

holds the society’s occasional anxiety. On the reverse, the conflicts and shifts in

between divinity reflects ancient individuals’ search for self-identity and a sense of

belongings within the world that is constantly in conflict for glory defined by

hegemony over communities and land. 40

Sweeney, Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and Discourses, 1-19.

39

40
Haarmann, "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles for Group Solidarity and
Ethnic Self-identification", 87-108.
Bibliography

Primary Sources
Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. Cambridge,
Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. 1921.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. Translated by Earnest Cary.

Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. 1937.

Herodotus. The Persian Wars. Translated by A.D. Godley. Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England: Harvard University Press. 1920.

Hesiod. Theogony Works and Days. Translated by Dorothea Wender. London: Penguin
Books, 2000.

Homer. Iliad. Translated by A.T. Murray. Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England:

Harvard University Press. 1924.

Livy. History of Rome. Translated by J.C.Yardley. Cambridge, Massachusetts London,

England: Harvard University Press. 2017.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England: Harvard University Press, 1916.

Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translated by W.H.S. Jones. Cambridge,

Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. 1918.

Solon. Fragment. Translated by Douglas E. Gerber. Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England: Harvard University Press. 1999.

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Charles Forster Smith.

Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press, 1919.

Secondary Sources
Belayche, Nicole. "Foundation Myths in Roman Palestine.: Traditions and
Reworkings." In Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition,
edited by Derks Ton and Roymans Nico, 167-88. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University
Press, 2009. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n1n2.10 / jstor

Berman, Daniel W. "The Double Foundation of Boiotian Thebes." Transactions of the

American Philological Association (1974-) 134, no. 1 (2004): 1-22. doi:
10.2307/25010831/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/20054096 / jstor
Bremmer, Jan N. "Myth as Propaganda: Athens and Sparta." Zeitschrift Für
Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 117 (1997): 9-17. www.jstor.org/stable/20189993. /
jstor

Cartledge, Paul. Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History, 1300-362 BC. Sussex:
Psychology Press, 2002.

Detienne, Marcel, and Elizabeth Jones. "The Art of Founding Autochthony: Thebes,
Athens, and Old-Stock French." Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 9, no.
1 (2001): 46-55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20163827 / jstor

Donlan, Walter. "The Foundation Legends of Rome: An Example of Dynamic

Process." The Classical World 64, no. 4 (1970): 109-14. Accessed July 22, 2020.
doi:10.2307/4347339/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/4347339 / jstor

Erich Gruen. "Did Ancient Identity Depend On Ethnicity? A Preliminary

Probe." Phoenix 67, no. 1/2 (2013): 1-22. doi:10.7834/phoenix.67.1-2.0001. /
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7834/phoenix.67.1-2.0001 / jstor

Haarmann, Harald. "Myth-making as Social and Political Agency: Myths as Vehicles

for Group Solidarity and Ethnic Self-identification." In Myth as Source of Knowledge
in Early Western Thought: The Quest for Historiography, Science and Philosophy in
Greek Antiquity, 87-108. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015.
doi:10.2307/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvc2rmjp.8 / jstor

Kallet-Marx, Robert Morstein. "Athens, Thebes, and the Foundation of the Second
Athenian League." Classical Antiquity 4, no. 2 (1985): 127-51. doi: 10.2307/25010831
/www.jstor.org/stable/25010831. / jstor

Lee-Stecum, Parshia. "Roman Refugium: Refugee Narratives in Augustan Versions of

Roman Prehistory." Hermathena, no. 184 (2008): 69-91.
www.jstor.org/stable/23041581. / jstor

McGowan, Elizabeth P. "The Origins of the Athenian Ionic Capital." Hesperia: The
Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 66, no. 2 (1997): 209-
33. doi: 10.2307/148483 / https://www.jstor.org/stable/148483 / jstor

Murray, Oswyn. "History and Reason in the Ancient City." Papers of the British School
at Rome 59 (1991): 1-13. www.jstor.org/stable/40310917. / jstor
Nimis, Stephen. "Theban Autochthony and Athenian Ideology in the Phoenissae of
Euripides." Mediterranean Studies 25, no. 2 (2017): 147-63. doi:
10.5325/mediterraneanstu.25.2.0147 /
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/mediterraneanstu.25.2.0147 / jstor

Patterson, Lee E. "Kinship Myth In The Literary Sources: Conquests and Territorial
Possession." In Kinship Myth in Ancient Greece, 69-82. University of Texas Press,2010.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/722750.9 / jstor

Pelling, Christopher. "Bringing Autochthony Up-to-Date: Herodotus and

Thucydides." The Classical World 102, no. 4 (2009): 471-83.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40599879 / jstor

Properzio, Paul. "Telling Stories: The Myth Tradition From Homer To Gilgamesh To
Vergil." The Classical Outlook 88, no. 3 (2011): 79-81.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43940075/jstor

Pulbrook, Martin. "The "Aetia" of Callimachus." The Maynooth Review / Revieú Mhá
Nuad 13 (1988): 44-64. www.jstor.org/stable/20556999. / jstor

Rader, Richard. ""And Whatever It Is, It Is You": The Autochthonous Self In

Aeschylus's "Seven Against Thebes"." Arethusa 42, no. 1 (2009): 1-44.
www.jstor.org/stable/44578294. / jstor

Sweeney, Naoíse Mac, ed. Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies: Dialogues and
Discourses. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qh48v / jstor

Wilson, Walter T. "Urban Legends: Acts 10:1-11:18 and the Strategies of Greco-
Roman Foundation Narratives." Journal of Biblical Literature 120, no. 1 (2001): 77-99.
Accessed July 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/3268594/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268594/ jstor

List of Figures
Fig.1. Unknown. Erechtheion on Acropolis. Unknown.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Erechtheum

Fig.2. Unknown. Ionic Columns in Erechtheion. Unknown.

https://www.allposters.com/-sp/Athens-Attica-Greece-Ionic-capitals-on-columns-of-
the-Erechtheion-on-the-Acropolis-The-Acrop-Posters_i15509286_.htm