“Γέρα: Studies in honor of Professor Menelaos Christopoulos,” ed. Athina Papachrysostomou, Andreas P. Antonopoulos, Alexandros-Fotios Mitsis, Fay Papadimitriou, and Panagiota Taktikou, special issue, Classics@ 25. https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HLNC.ESSAY:103900185, 2023
The myths presented in the Athenian theater and shown in Athenian images in public and private sp... more The myths presented in the Athenian theater and shown in Athenian images in public and private spaces were predominantly myths shared by the Greek-speaking world. Local myths were brought to the stage, too, but only Euripides’ Erechtheus, performed ca. 420 and transmitted in fragments, and his Ion, performed in the late 410s, are preserved. Both plays feature the royal family: in Erechtheus, the protagonists are Erechtheus, his wife (given the name Praxithea), and three anonymous daughters; in Ion, they are Kreousa (another daughter of Erechtheus) and her son Ion, presented as the child of Apollo, not of Kreousa’s non-Athenian husband Xouthos; thus the royal family “remains fully Athenian.”
My focus is on the charter myths of Athens, originally told for Urkönig Erechtheus: the birth myth of the child born by Gaia and adopted by Athena, and the king’s successful defense of Athens (the invasion myth). I have argued elsewhere that both myths were told in new versions after the Kleisthenic reforms, when Erechtheus became one of the eponymous heroes. If, however, elements of the earlier traditions had not survived, we would not know of their existence. I also argue that Euripides in Erechtheus used and adapted both versions of the invasion myth. Here I want to discuss how the poet’s presentation of these charter myths relates to the visual and material evidence for the myths accessible to him—and his audience—in Classical Athens.
Uploads
Papers by Marion Meyer
Three images of Eumolpos throw some light on the construction of this complex persona: a skyphos of ca.480 shows him as an Eleusinian noble, a singer, and Poseidon’s son; on a slightly later cup he is depicted as a young warrior in Eleusinian company. Both vessels prove that in the early 5th century animage of Eumolpos could evoke his function in cult (as the priestly singer in the Mysteries) as well as his function in myth (as aw arrior who
attacked Erechtheus). In the later 5th century Eumolpos, the founder, was said to be a descendant of a first Eumolpos and the son of Mousaios. Euripides’ play Erechtheus and a pelike of ca. 410 are the earliest evidence for this genealogy
My focus is on the charter myths of Athens, originally told for Urkönig Erechtheus: the birth myth of the child born by Gaia and adopted by Athena, and the king’s successful defense of Athens (the invasion myth). I have argued elsewhere that both myths were told in new versions after the Kleisthenic reforms, when Erechtheus became one of the eponymous heroes. If, however, elements of the earlier traditions had not survived, we would not know of their existence. I also argue that Euripides in Erechtheus used and adapted both versions of the invasion myth. Here I want to discuss how the poet’s presentation of these charter myths relates to the visual and material evidence for the myths accessible to him—and his audience—in Classical Athens.
Three images of Eumolpos throw some light on the construction of this complex persona: a skyphos of ca.480 shows him as an Eleusinian noble, a singer, and Poseidon’s son; on a slightly later cup he is depicted as a young warrior in Eleusinian company. Both vessels prove that in the early 5th century animage of Eumolpos could evoke his function in cult (as the priestly singer in the Mysteries) as well as his function in myth (as aw arrior who
attacked Erechtheus). In the later 5th century Eumolpos, the founder, was said to be a descendant of a first Eumolpos and the son of Mousaios. Euripides’ play Erechtheus and a pelike of ca. 410 are the earliest evidence for this genealogy
My focus is on the charter myths of Athens, originally told for Urkönig Erechtheus: the birth myth of the child born by Gaia and adopted by Athena, and the king’s successful defense of Athens (the invasion myth). I have argued elsewhere that both myths were told in new versions after the Kleisthenic reforms, when Erechtheus became one of the eponymous heroes. If, however, elements of the earlier traditions had not survived, we would not know of their existence. I also argue that Euripides in Erechtheus used and adapted both versions of the invasion myth. Here I want to discuss how the poet’s presentation of these charter myths relates to the visual and material evidence for the myths accessible to him—and his audience—in Classical Athens.
A new book on 500 years of Roman portrait types, with an extensive portrait type catalogue of some 800 very large size coin images of any Roman individual known to us on Roman coins from the late Republic to the End of the Western Empire. It includes 14 research articles studying different aspects and emperors from Augustus to Theodosius I. Authors are Werner Eck, Christian Gliwitzky, Christoph v Mosch, Andreas Pangerl, Olivier Hekster, Wilhelm Müseler, Marion Meyer, Jörn Lang, Melanie Lang, Kay Ehling, Markus Löx.
The book has won the BEST NUMISMATIC PUBLICATION 2017 AWARD IAPN
http://www.iapn-coins.org/iapn/publications.html
It can be ordered via [email protected]
Publisher Staatliche Münzsammlung München, http://www.staatliche-muenzsammlung.de/ ISBN 978-3-922840-36-7