The mythological hero Orpheus occupied a central role in ancient Greek culture, but 'the son of Oeagrus' and 'Thracian musician' venerated by the Greeks has also become a prominent figure in a long tradition of classical reception of Greek myth. This book challenges our entrenched idea of Orpheus and demonstrates that in the Classical and Hellenistic periods depictions of his identity and image were not as unequivocal as we tend to believe today.
Concentrating on Orpheus' ethnicity and geographical references in ancient sources, Tomasz Mojsik traces the development of, and changes in, the mythological image of the hero in antiquity and sheds new light on contemporary constructions of cultural identity by locating the various versions of the mythical story within their socio-political contexts. Examination of the early literary sources prompts a reconsideration of the tradition which locates the tomb of the hero in Macedonian Pieria, and the volume argues for the emergence of this tradition as a reaction to the allegation of the barbarity and civilizational backwardness of the Macedonians throughout the wider Greek world. These assertions have important implications for Archelaus' Hellenizing policy and his commonly acknowledged sponsorship of the arts, which included his incorporating of the Muses into the cult of Zeus at the Olympia in Dium.
Author(s): Tomasz Mojsik
Series: Bloomsbury classical studies monographs
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 224
City: London
Cover
Halftitle page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgement
Abbreviations
Maps
Introduction
1 Orpheus and the Mythical Tradition
Orpheus as a mythical hero
Orpheus and mythical tradition: Sources
Stories, variants, local contexts
2 Orpheus, Oeagrus and Thracians in Early Testimonies
Early iconography
Orpheus on stage
Fourth century and beyond
Oeagrus
Why Thrace? Contexts and explanations
3 Leibethra, Pimpleia and Mythical Geography
Leibethra and Pimpleia: What do we know?
Leibethra and Pimpleia: Changes in mythical geography
Contexts and explanations
Leibethra, Pimpleia and Thracia
Orpheus and Thracian tribes
Summary, Nysa and scholiasts
4 Thracians, Pieria and Music
Strabo I: Leibethra and Boeotia
Strabo II: Ephorus, Leibethra and Th racians
Thucydides 2,99: Pieres are not Pierians
Thracians and mousikē
Conclusions
5 Orpheus in Pieria
Birth, life and music in Pieria
Orpheus’ death in Pieria
The proverb about Leibethrians
Genealogies of Orpheus: Pierus and Methone
Pierian toponyms and the Muses
Conclusions
6 Orpheus’ Tomb in Pieria
Lesbos and Kitharodia
Pieria: Tomb, statues and cult
Contexts
Summary
Coda: The two graves of Saint Adalbert
7 Mousikē, Identity and Ideology
Orpheus and the Pierian tradition: A recapitulation
Macedon: Mousikē and Orphics
Macedon in context: Identity and ideology
Epilogue: Orpheuses, not Orpheus
Notes
Bibliography
Index
