Historical Consciousness and Political Agency among Ancient Greek Refugees

Abstract

This paper argues that ancient Greek refugees, like many of their modern counterparts, often made skilful use of history and memory in order to exercise political agency, which helped to compensate for their loss of conventional political power and status. The paper analyses the multiple ways in which ancient Greek refugees appealed to myth, history and memory to claim political legitimacy, build a meaningful exile community and develop diplomatic relationships with benefactors. It also shows how, after their return home, former refugees made use of commemoration of the period of exile itself as an important tool in rebuilding the citizen-body and in sustaining their interstate networks.