Created at the Water’s Edge: Poetics and Politics in Greek Foundation Myths

Abstract

Stories are meaningful and the stories that a community tells about itself are particularly ripe with information. The foundation myths of many cities in the Mediterranean include a source of water or claim mythological ancestors that are progeny of local water sources. This paper takes as its focus the foundation myths of several Greek communities – Ephesos, Samos, and Halikarnassos – as a way to argue for the centrality of water, both in practical terms and for identity formation. The question remains, however, why the geographical feature included in these foundation myths is overwhelmingly a water source. These narratives could easily achieve the same purpose with the inclusion of a host of other distinguishing geographical features. I argue that including reference to local water sources in these foundation narratives connect to the practical but also the ideological importance of water for a community. In this paper I argue that the emphasis on local water sources, which was further emphasized in the visual and material record, expresses the centrality of water in the understanding of “place” and in the construction of civic identities.