Exploring Sub-Ethnic Identity in Greek Historiography

Abstract

This work explores how sub-ethnic identities are utilised in Greek historiography. Ethnicity is a prominent concept in today's society thanks to its broad application to varying forms of identity. Ancient Greece makes for a fascinating point of analysis for ethnicity due to its setting. This setting comprises of the mainland peninsular of Greece, and various dispersed colonies extending from the Mediterranean to the Near East. These localities play host to many city states, with their own concerns yet all participating in an overarching Greek identity. The work aims to create a typology assessing macro to micro levels of sub-ethnic identity in Greece, using both fully extant and fragmentary sources. The first part of this work focuses on etic approaches to ethnicity taken by the Greeks. This section will explore how Lydia and Epirus appear in Greek historiography and will define how the Greek-Lydian and Molossian sub-ethnic identities perform Greekness in sites at the frontier of Greece. Part 2 explores how historiography can provide us with fascinating perspectives on how the Ionian-Dorian divide appears in reference to Athens and Sparta. I explore how descent and language provide useful insight into this sub-ethnic divide. Lastly, we will explore how Sicilians and East Greeks formed regional sub-ethnic identities where Greek authors created boundaries that participate in the direct or indirect formation of a unique identity

Date of Award	1 Oct 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Ellen C. O'Gorman (Supervisor) & Edwin H Shaw (Supervisor)