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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2022

Imperial Mythography

Résumé

This chapter aims to describe what is specifically imperial in imperial mythography, in comparison with what can be reconstructed of Hellenistic mythographic practices. The sheer amount of documents (papyri, complete texts) from the imperial era is a huge change and modifies our knowledge and even definition of mythography. The study focuses on the diversity of mythographic practices, and characterizes them as a specific mode of understanding, listing and conveying information. Mythographic texts of the imperial time can be read as a kind of secondary literature, as summaries or commentaries of a literary work, but are also a way to organize and combine different sources into a common textual production that will be accessed in different forms. The study aknowledges also the fact that we cannnot dismiss the vicinity between mythography and other literary practices. In this respect, mythography is almost co-extensive with cultured literacy. As a consequence, we can get access to some aspects of the social importance of mythography in the imperial elite circles. Mythography not as written text but as oral enunciate happens everywhere in elite circles, where erudition is not only a matter of taste, but also a way to achieve social prestige among peers. Some mythographic texts can be conceived as tools, others as a reflection of a social rivalry embedded in mythological erudition.
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Dates et versions

hal-03829078 , version 1 (25-10-2022)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-03829078 , version 1

Citer

Charles Delattre. Imperial Mythography. Scott R. Smith; Stephen Trzaskoma. Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography, Oxford University Press, p. 78-96, 2022. ⟨hal-03829078⟩
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