Rationalizing Myth in Antiquity

Abstract

Abstract Instances of rationalistic interpretation in ancient Greek authors constitute a rare and valuable example of an indigenous mode of ancient myth criticism. They display some of the ways in which the Greeks grappled with, manipulated and categorized their own narrative traditions. This book describes and discusses the rationalistic attitudes and approaches of six texts: three treatises transmitted under the title Peri Apiston (by Palaephatus, Heraclitus, and a third, anonymous writer), Conon's Diegeseis, Plutarch's Theseus-Romulus, and Pausanias' Periegesis. Taken as a whole, this material offers new perspectives on the Greek mythical tradition as an evolving, diverse system of stories, and on ancient attempts to distinguish categorically between mythic and historical phenomena. This book locates the rationalistic tradition in relation to other responses to myth in antiquity and charts its development in parallel with evolving cultural and literary norms in the Hellenistic period and Second Sophistic, particularly the development of historiography, mythography, and other interpretative trends in rhetorical instruction. It offers new ways of accounting for the emergence of rationalistic elements within the broader storytelling contexts of Greece, and argues for the close connections – in spite of appearances – between these innovative approaches and the more conventional roles of myth in the ancient world.

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