Dido’s foundation legend, archetypes of foundation myths in Eurasia and Neomythology in the nineteenth century Balkans.

Stavros Oikonomidis

doi:10.32028/exnovo-vol-7-pp.23-55

Authors

Stavros Oikonomidis Arcadia University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32028/exnovo-vol-7-pp.23-55

Keywords:

Dido, Evrenoz, Foundation Myths, Greek and Roman Archetypes, Imagined Communities, Naoussa, Neo - Mythology, Ox - Hide, Pater Familias, Romanitas

Abstract

Dido’s foundation legend of Carthage survives as a basic archetype for numerous foundation legends of Eurasia throughout the Middle Ages. The stratagem of the ox-hide is repeatedly referred as main theme of the foundation of towns, cities, and kingdoms, from the British Islands to the Balkans and eastern Eurasia. By the time of the genesis of the new nation – states in the Balkans the Didonian archetype has been re-proposed in the case of the foundation of the town of Naoussa, in Northern Greece, now with the Ottoman conqueror of the Balkans playing the role of Dido. His name was Gazi Evrenoz Beg, a Greek renegade who appears in a Greek manuscript found in Naoussa with attributes and characteristics taken by the Graeco-Roman vernacular and written tradition. In this article is studied and analyzed the survival of the ancient myth in the modern times focusing on the reproduction of it in the nineteenth century Balkans.

References

ΒΑΚΑΛΌΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Κ. ΑΠ. 2018. Οι Οθωμανικές Μεταρρυθμίσεις (Tanzimat) και οι Επιπτώσεις στη Μακεδονία (1830 – 1878), Θεσσαλονίκη, 1–186.

ΒΑΛΣΑΜΊΔΗΣ, Μ. 2009. Η συμβολή της βασιλομήτορος στη βελτίωση των προνομίων της Νάουσας. Ψηφίδες, Ιστορικά Τοπικά 3: 52 – 55.

ΒΑΣΔΡΑΒΈΛΛΗΣ, Ι., Κ. 1952. Η Νάουσα κατά τον αγώνα της ανεξαρτησίας. Αθήνα.

ΒΑΣΔΡΑΒΈΛΛΗΣ, Ι. Κ. 1956. Ιστορικά περί Ναούσης εξ ανεκδότου χειρογράφου. Μακεδονικά 3: 126–141.

BAUJOUR, F. 1797. Tableau du Commerce de la Grece. Forme’ d’apres une annee moyenne, depuis 1787 jusqu’en 1797, Tome Premier, Report IV. Paris.

BRUNNBAUER, U. 2005. Ancient nationhood and the struggle for statehood. Historiographic myths in the Republic of Macedonia, in: P. KOLSTØ (ed.) Myths and Boundaries in South–Eastern Europe. Hurst & Co Publishers: London: 262–296. BURNS, A. 1834. Travels in Bukhara, being the account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia – also narrative of a voyage on the Indus. Vol. I, Chapter X. John Murray, London.

BURNS, T. S. & EADIE, J. W. 2001, Urban Centers and Rural Contexts in Late Antiquity, Michigan State University, Michigan, XI.

ΓΑΒΡΙΗΛΊΔΗΣ, Θ. 1999. Οι παραδόσεις για την ίδρυση της Νάουσας ΙΙ. Νιάουστα 89: 4–9.

ΓΑΒΡΙΗΛΊΔΗΣ, Θ. 2000. Οι παραδόσεις για την ίδρυση της Νάουσας ΙΙ. Νιάουστα 90–91: 35–39.

CAHILL, T. 1995. How the Irish saved Civilization. The untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday.

CANTOR, N. F. 1993. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. A complete revised and expanded Edition of Medieval History. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

DE LA PRYME, A. 1870. Diary, (Jackson C., editor). London..

DEMETRIADES, V. 1976. The tomb of Ghazi Evrenos Bey at Yenitsa and its inscriptions. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 39: 328-332.

DICKENS, A. G. 1977. The Courts of Europe. Politics, Patronage and Royalty 140–1800. New York, St. Louis, San Francisco: McGraw – Hill Book Company.

ΔΟΎΔΟΣ, Γ. Α. 2001. Το παραμύθι του Στραβού Πλάτανου, Εκδόσεις Λοξίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 1–140.

EKWALL, E. 1960. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place–Names (4th edition). Oxford: Bulverhythe.

ELIADE, M. 1963. Myth and Reality, trans. W. R. Trask. New York: Harper and Row.

FLOREA, C. 2010. The construction of memory and the display of social bonds in the life of Corpus Christi Fraternity from Sibiu (Hermannstadt, Negyszeben), in: L. DOLEZALOVA (ed.) The Making of Memory in the Middle Ages. Leiden-Boston: Brill: 1–497.

GAFUROVA, R. L. 1992. Kitabi Mulla, Tashkent: Zade.

GAMDEN, W. 1695. Britannia, Edition 1971. London: Gibson E. editor: 471–472.

GEARY, P. J. 2003. The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

ΓΚΟΎΤΑΣ, Α. 1999. Ναουσαίοι μετανάστες στην Αίγυπτο. Νάουσα 19ος–20ος αιώνας, Νάουσα: 180–181.

GORI, M., LERA, P., OIKONOMIDIS, S., PAPAYIANNIS & TSONOS, A. 2017. Practicing archaeology and researching present identities in no man’s land, a view from the Tri–National Prespa Lake, in: M. GORI & M. IVANOVA (eds.) Balkan Dialogues. Negotiating identity between Prehistory and the Present. London and New York: Routledge: 254–270.

GUERBER, H. A. 1895. Myths of Northern Land, Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art. New York–Cincinnati–Chicago: American Book Company.

HASTED, E. 1798. (repr. 1972). The History of Kent, (2nd edition), vol. 6, Wakefield.

HAHN, H. P. 2017. Ethnicity as a form of social organization. Notes on the multiplicity of understanding of a contested concept, in: M. GORI & M. IVANOVA (eds.) Balkan Dialogues. Negotiating identity between Prehistory and the Present. London and New York: Routledge: 38–51.

HODGKINSON, H. 1999. Scanderbeg. London.

ΚΑΨΆΛΗΣ, Γ. 1917. Λαογραφικά της Νάουσας. Δελτίον της Ελληνικής Λαογραφικής Εταιρείας 6: 452–537.

KOLSTØ, P. 2005. Assessing the role of historical myths in modern society, in: KOLSTØ, P. (ed.) Myths and Boundaries in South–Eastern Europe. Hurst & Co Publishers: London 1–34.

KÖPRÜLÜ, M. F. 2001. Οι απαρχές της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Μεσανατολικές Σπουδές, αρ. 2., Οθωμανική Ιστορία: Αθήνα.

ΛΑΓΌΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Α. Φ. 2002. Ο Ουρανός πάνω στη Γη. Τελετουργίες καθαγίασης του ελληνικού παραδοσιακού οικισμού και προέλευσή τους, Αθήνα : Οδυσσέας.

LEWIS, S. 1831. A topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. 4. London.

LIEBRECHT, F. 1851. Geschichte der Prosadichtung. Berlin.

LOWRY, W. H. 2012. Fourteenth century ottoman realities. In search of Haci Gazi Evrenoz. Bahcehir University Press: Istanbul.

MAC SWEENEY, N. (ed.), 2015. Introduction, in: MAC SWEENEY, N. (ed.). Foundation Myths in Ancient Societies, Dialogues and Discourses. University of Pennsylvania Press: Pennsylvania: 1–18.

MELIKOFF, I. 1991. Evrenos, in: Evrenos, Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 2, Leiden.

MUHAMEDJANOV, A. R. 1965. Istoriko–topografickeskii plan Bukhary Akhmada Donisha. Общественные Науки в Узбекистане 5: 36.

NEWMAN, A. 2017. The Dido story in Accounts of Early Modern European Imperialism–An Anthology. Itinerary 41 (1): 129–150.

ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΊΔΗΣ, Σ. ΠΑΠΑΓΙΆΝΝΗΣ, Α. ΤΣΏΝΟΣ, Α. 2011–2013. Η περιοχή των Πρεσπών: μια γεωγραφική και ιστορική προσέγγιση του Τριεθνούς. Ηπειρωτικά Χρονικά 45: 9–48.

OIKONOMIDIS, S. PAPAYIANNIS, A. & TSONOS, A. 2014. Alexander, Frankenstein and regular days in the life of a Balkan archaeologist. The experience of the Greek–Albanian Archaeological Expedition at Prespa (Albania), in the years 2009–2014. International Journal of Science Culture and Sport 2 (3): 95-102.

POWELL, J. U. 1933. Byrsa, the bull’s hide at Carthage and some parallels. Folklore 44 (3): 310-315.

RADFORD, R. S. 1989. Going to the Island: A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Medieval Icelandic Duel. Southern California Law Review 62: 615–644.

RICHARDSON, D. 2011. Plantagenet Ancestry: A study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Salt Lake City: Kimball G. Everingham.

ΡΟΎΠΑ, Ε. & ΧΕΚΊΜΟΓΛΟΥ, Ε. 2004. Ιστορία της Επιχειρηματικότητας στη Θεσσαλονίκη, Vol. 3, Η επιχειρηματικότητα στην περίοδο 1900–1940, Πολιτιστική Εταιρεία Επιχειρηματιών Βορείου Ελλάδος, Θεσσαλονίκη.

ΣΑΒΒΊΔΗΣ, Α. Γ. 1993. Η Οθωμανική κατάκτηση της Θήβας και της Λεβάδειας. Αθήνα.

ΣΑΒΒΊΔΗΣ, Α. Γ. 2004. Δοκίμια Οθωμανικής Ιστορίας, Αθήνα.

SETTIS, S. 2004. Futuro del Classico. Torino: Einaudi.

SCHLAUCH, M. 1949. The Saga of the Volsungs, (2nd edition). American Scandinavian Foundation: New York.

SMITH, W. G. 1904. Dunstable. Its History and Surroundings. London: The Homeland Association for the Encouragement of Touring in Great Britain.

ΣΠΆΡΤΣΗΣ, Ν. 2016. Πού είναι η Παλιονιάουστα. Νιάουστα: 156–157: 44–46.

ΣΤΟΥΓΙΑΝΝΆΚΗΣ, Ε. Ι. 1924. Ιστορία της πόλεως Ναούσης από της ιδρύσεώς της μέχρι σήμερον, κατά ανέκδοτον σχεδίασμα Δ. Πλαταρίδου: Εδεσσα.

STAVRIANOS, L. S. 1963. The Balkans. Holt: Rinehart and Winston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, London.

TATLOCK, J. S. P. 1950. The Legendary History of Britain. London.

TODD, M. 2001. Migrants & Invaders. The Movement of Peoples in the Ancient World. Tempus: Gloucestershire.

TODOROVA, M., 1997. Imagining the Balkans. OUP: Oxford.

VIRGIL. The Aeneid. 1997. Dryden, J. (transl.), Morwood, J. (Intro.), in: Wordsworth Classics of World Literature. London.

WAGGONER, B. 2009. The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok. Troth Publications: New Haven.

WILLIAMS, R. 1911. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the County of Montgomery. Palala Press: London.

WINNIFRITH, T. J. 1995. Shattered Eagles Balkan Fragments. Duckworth: London.

ΦΙΛΙΠΠΊΔΗΣ, Ν. Γ. 1881. Η επανάστασις και καταστροφή της Ναούσης. Βιβλιοθήκη Ιστορικών Μελετών 77: 1–86.

ŽANIĆ, I. 2005. The symbolic identity of Croatia in the triangle Crossroads–Bulwark–Bridge, in: P. KOLSTØ (ed.) Myths and Boundaries in South–Eastern Europe. Hurst & Co Publishers: London: 35–76.

ΖΑΧΑΡΙΆΔΟΥ, Ε. Α. 1999. Ιστορία και Θρύλοι των Παλαιών Σουλτάνων (1300–1400). Μορφωτικό Ιδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης: Αθήνα.

ΖΕΓΚΊΝΗΣ, Ε. 2006. Γαζή Εβρενός και Μολλά Ιλαχή (σύμφωνα με οθωμανικές πηγές. Νιάουστα 114: 12–16.

ZOLLA, E. 1994. Archetipi, Venezia: Marsilio Editori.