1st Edition
The Dynamics of Greek Myth Athenian Autochthony as a Case Study
By YAN Di
Copyright 2026
188 Pages
by
Routledge
Combining structural analysis, historical enquiry, and intertextual reading, this book offers a fresh interpretation of one of antiquity’s most enduring myths, autochthony, and provides a model for studying myths as living processes of cultural imagination.
Moving beyond approaches that treat myth as either a fixed symbolic system or a reflection of history, the book proposes a new framework... Read more
1. Introduction: The Dynamics of Myth 2. An Order Born of Violence: Hesiod’s Myths of Origin as a Prelude to Autochthony 3. From Origin to Order: Recontextualizing the Athenian Myths of Autochthony 4. Pathology of Autochthony: Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Euripides’ Ion 5. Revolution of Philosophy: Plato’s New World Order and Revised Autochthony 6. Coda
Biography
Yan Di is formerly Associate Professor of Classics at Tsinghua University, China. She received her PhD in Classics from the University of Cambridge. Her research centres on ancient Greek myth and cultural history.
