Research Article

Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion

Volume: 8 Number: 2 September 27, 2026
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Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion

Abstract

This article examines Parion’s place within the epic and sacred geography of the Troad through the relationship among civic identity, sacred memory and public representation. It begins from the premise that the city’s identity cannot be reduced to a single origin narrative, fixed etymology or uninterrupted cultic continuity. Its central argument is that a distinctive Parian repertoire of civic memory and representation can be reconstructed from bodies of evidence belonging to different periods and carrying unequal evidentiary weight. Colonisation and eponymic traditions, local sacred genealogy, sacred topography, public commemoration and numismatic imagery served different functions within this repertoire. Although Parion was an Archaic foundation outside the Homeric narrative, its location between the Propontis, Hellespont and Troad enabled later associations with the region’s epic past. Strabo provides the principal textual basis for discussing Adrasteia, Apollo Aktaios, Artemis, the reported transfer of sanctuary material and the Altar of Hermokreon. Athenagoras’ contested Alexandros passage offers a specific textual record of a taphos, bronze eikōn, sacrifice and festival in the agora, while the Paris/Alexandros identification remains a defensible but non-exclusive modern reading. The Gorgoneion, Apollo Aktaios, Eros/Cupid and Pario Conditori types document the circulation of selected images and sacred or founding references without establishing collective belief, ritual continuity or a single political programme. In the Roman period, local, sacred and epic memories were rearticulated through colonial status and imperial visual codes.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

This study received no financial support.

Ethical Statement

Ethics committee approval is not required for this study.

Thanks

The authors would like to thank all members of the Parion Excavation team who have contributed to the excavation, documentation and study of Parion.

References

  1. Athenagoras. (1972). Legatio and De resurrectione (W. R. Schoedel, Ed. & Trans.). Clarendon Press.
  2. Athenagoras. (1990). Legatio pro Christianis (M. Marcovich, Ed.). Walter de Gruyter.
  3. Pliny the Elder. (1961). Natural history: Volume IX, Books 33-35 (H. Rackham, Trans.; Loeb Classical Library). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann.
  4. Strabo. (1960). The geography of Strabo (Vol. 6, Books 13-14; H. L. Jones, Trans.; Loeb Classical Library). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann.
  5. Alcock, S. E. (2002). Archaeologies of the Greek past: Landscape, monuments, and memory. Cambridge University Press.
  6. Ando, C. (2000). Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire. University of California Press.
  7. Assmann, J. (2011). Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge University Press.
  8. Avram, A. (2004). The Propontic coast of Asia Minor. In M. H. Hansen & T. H. Nielsen (Eds.), An inventory of archaic and classical poleis: An investigation conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (pp. 974–999). Oxford University Press.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Archaeological Science, Hellenistic Period Archeology, Classical Period Archeology, Numismatics, Classical Greek and Roman History

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

September 27, 2026

Submission Date

June 2, 2026

Acceptance Date

September 18, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 8 Number: 2

APA
Tuğrul, S., & Keleş, V. (2026). Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion. OANNES - International Journal of Ancient History, 8(2), 384-399. https://doi.org/10.33469/oannes.1962574
AMA
1.Tuğrul S, Keleş V. Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion. OANNES. 2026;8(2):384-399. doi:10.33469/oannes.1962574
Chicago
Tuğrul, Sadık, and Vedat Keleş. 2026. “Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion”. OANNES - International Journal of Ancient History 8 (2): 384-99. https://doi.org/10.33469/oannes.1962574.
EndNote
Tuğrul S, Keleş V (September 1, 2026) Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion. OANNES - International Journal of Ancient History 8 2 384–399.
IEEE
[1]S. Tuğrul and V. Keleş, “Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion”, OANNES, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 384–399, Sept. 2026, doi: 10.33469/oannes.1962574.
ISNAD
Tuğrul, Sadık - Keleş, Vedat. “Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion”. OANNES - International Journal of Ancient History 8/2 (September 1, 2026): 384-399. https://doi.org/10.33469/oannes.1962574.
JAMA
1.Tuğrul S, Keleş V. Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion. OANNES. 2026;8:384–399.
MLA
Tuğrul, Sadık, and Vedat Keleş. “Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion”. OANNES - International Journal of Ancient History, vol. 8, no. 2, Sept. 2026, pp. 384-99, doi:10.33469/oannes.1962574.
Vancouver
1.Sadık Tuğrul, Vedat Keleş. Civic Identity and Sacred Memory at the Margins of Epic Geography: Paris/Alexandros, the Adrasteia Legacy and the Representational Repertoire at Parion. OANNES. 2026 Sep. 1;8(2):384-99. doi:10.33469/oannes.1962574

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