Ethnicity and Local Myth 239In the particular case of Boiotia, which we have examined here as a test case, we have to
admit that we hardly know anything about ethnic groups living here before the Archaic
era, and we hardly know anything about ethnic consciousness of local ethnic groups
beyond regionalethnesuch as the Boiotians. In fact, we mostly know not much more
than names. Local myths, however, give us a glimpse of the early history of regions. The
later Greeks preserved the knowledge of a complex history of many ethnic groups emerg-
ing, fading, and mingling with each other. In the sixth centuryBCat the latest, regional
ethnicity was enforced by telling stories of Boiotos as the common ancestor and of Arne
as the mythical homeland. From then onward, the regionalethnosas we know it from
later times of history took shape. However, regional identity did not simply replace local
identity patterns going back to preceding centuries. And it did not replace identity pat-
terns bound to the individualpoleisof the region. To make it even more complicated, the
poleisthemselves were constituted by several groups with different ethnic backgrounds.
Tell me where you come from and I’ll tell you who you are. In Archaic times, one could
have answered the question by saying: “I am from Thebes, Orchomenos, or Tanagra,”
respectively, or: “I am from Boiotia.” Later on, however, the answer: “I am a Boiotian”
would be regarded as almost equivalent to the answer “I am a Theban,” at least from an
outside point of view. Tell me where you come from and I’ll tell you who you are. If we
want to get an idea of Greek ethnicity, we certainly have to know how complex it was, a
web of identities constituted by several layers, which were interrelated with one another
and changed continuously. Local myths open deep insights into this cosmos of ethnic
mentalities and attitudes toward ethnicity.
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