eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

sources. Scholars working primarily on the subject of Greek Mythology rather than
archaeology have expounded the ineffectiveness of such attempts. This applies especially to
those of the structuralist school who have tended to ignore any historical elements to myth
(e.g. Vernant 1980 1983; Detienne 1986; Vidal-Naquet 1986; and see Buxton 1994). Others
such as Burkert (1979) have appreciated the importance of history, although in terms of the
creation of myth rather than as its subject, and the significance of rites has been investigated
in studies by Bremmer (1983, 1984) and Graf (1985). There are those who have questioned
the category of myth and claim it to be a particularly modern notion (Detienne 1986; Calame
1990) and feminist critiques and understanding of myths have been developed (Pomeroy
1975; Loraux 1981, 1987, 1989; Cameron & Kuhrt 1983; Halperin et al. 1990). In addition,
Paul Veyne has approached the question of whether the ancients actually believed in myths
and how this would have affected their purpose (1988). Fuller discussions of the
development of theories and approaches toward myth can be found elsewhere (e.g. Dowden
1992, ch.2). In sympathy with the research presented here, however, is the approach taken by
Buxton (1994). He believes (1994, p.4) myth should be contextualized and the stories should
be relocated ‘within the largely peasant communities in which they were told’ and the ‘old
historicism debate’ is seen, by Dowden (1992, p.23) at least, as a particular folly of naïve
prehistorians.
If this approach is applied to the Arkadian origin myths and their context is examined, we find
that the genealogy as outlined above is only found in its full form in Pausanias’ ‘Description
of Greece’ written in the second century CE (8.1.4-8.6.3). There are references to various
aspects in earlier writers, such as Herodotus and Thucydides as illustrated above, and in
fragments of Hesiod (fr.161; fr.162 (MW)), Asios (as quoted in Pausanias 8.1.4) and
Pherekydes (FGrHist 3 fr.156). However, the connection with Pelasgos as ascertained from
these earlier sources may, in fact, be an outsider’s rather than an insider’s view - none of the
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