The Multipolarity of Athenian Social Memory: Polis, Tribes and Demes as Interdependent Memory Communities

Abstract

In their analysis of the Athenians’ shared image of their past as an essential element of Athenian collective identity, scholars have largely focused on polis-wide commemorative activities such as the Athenian public funeral oration for the war dead. Taking the inherent multipolarity of social memory into account, this paper examines the collective memories of two types of Athenian sub-groups, namely demes and tribes, and explores how their shared memories and the ‘official’ Athenian polis tradition mutually influenced and sustained each other in 5th- and 4th-century Athenian public discourse.