Polyphemus, Galatea, Herakles: Myths of Origin for Northerners

Introduction: Marking the North in the Greek Tradition4 On epistemic ordering, see Bhabha 1994, 92-120.Webster 1996 on colonial discourse; cf.Geus 2015 on conquest and geography in antiquity.5 Cf.Fantuzzi & Hunter 2004, 49-50.6 The Greek use of mythological aetiologies or heroic itineraries in relating to outsiders is emphasised by Vlassopoulos 2013b, 165-186, who underscores the 'textualisation' of Greek ethnocentrism.7 Eur.IT 380-391.See Wolff 1992, 309-312; Nagy 2009, 44-47, 50-51, 81, 107, 184.On Taurians probably being unknown in Athens before Herodotus' mention of them and their cruel rites, and on Euripides' dependence on the Herodotean description, see Hall 1989, 111-113 (but cf.Kyriakou 2006, 20-21).See also Scullion 1999, 225-230 (cf.Seaford 2009, 230-234); Bremmer 2013, 87-88, 98-100.8 E.g.Steph.Byz.s.v.Γάζα, deriving it from Azon, son of Herakles.For the dynamics of eponymous ancestors, see Wiseman 1974; Patterson 2010; also rather pertinently Woolf 2009, 214. 9 Stereotypical northerners as muscular, violent and brave: e.g.Cic.Font.5, 12; Vell.Pat.2.106.2,117.3;Flor.1.37; Anon.Lat.De Physiogn.14, 79; Amm.Marc.15.12.1-2;Maur.Strat.11.3.On the theories behind these images, see Goldman 2016; Langum 2018.On Hercules, see Bonnet & Jourdain-Annequin (eds.) 1992 and 1996; Bonnet &