The combination of the philhellenism of local and foreign scholars and the need to demonstrate the direct descent of the modern Greek nation from ancient Hellas has led, over time, to the persistent overestimation of alleged ‘folkloric testimonies’ gravitating around Eleusis that would attest to the survival of narratives and traditions related to the goddess Demeter. In line with the most recent trends in anthropology and ethnography relating to modern Greece, a dispassionate analysis of these testimonies shows their actual falsehood (as in the case of the story of Saint Demeter published in 1864 by the archaeologist F. Lenormant), or their identity with international ‘contemporary legends’ that have nothing to do with the ancient goddess of Eleusis, as in the case of the supposed apparition of Demeter that the vox populi would have placed on a bus in Athens in February 1940. In both cases, we are not dealing with ‘survivals’, but with very particular cases of ‘classical reception’.

Braccini, T. (2020). L’autobus non ferma più a Eleusi: miti di survival e fortuna dell’antico. CLASSICA VOX, 2, 127-148.

L’autobus non ferma più a Eleusi: miti di survival e fortuna dell’antico

T. Braccini
2020-01-01

Abstract

The combination of the philhellenism of local and foreign scholars and the need to demonstrate the direct descent of the modern Greek nation from ancient Hellas has led, over time, to the persistent overestimation of alleged ‘folkloric testimonies’ gravitating around Eleusis that would attest to the survival of narratives and traditions related to the goddess Demeter. In line with the most recent trends in anthropology and ethnography relating to modern Greece, a dispassionate analysis of these testimonies shows their actual falsehood (as in the case of the story of Saint Demeter published in 1864 by the archaeologist F. Lenormant), or their identity with international ‘contemporary legends’ that have nothing to do with the ancient goddess of Eleusis, as in the case of the supposed apparition of Demeter that the vox populi would have placed on a bus in Athens in February 1940. In both cases, we are not dealing with ‘survivals’, but with very particular cases of ‘classical reception’.
2020
Braccini, T. (2020). L’autobus non ferma più a Eleusi: miti di survival e fortuna dell’antico. CLASSICA VOX, 2, 127-148.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1122481