The Public Funeral Oration And The Construction Of Athenian Civic Identity

Taking the extant funeral orations as the basic historical data, this treatise analyzes the constructed Athenian civic identity in the funeral orations, as well as its changes which occurred in different situations.Because of the formulization of the funeral orations, all the orators coincidently choosed common topics, and constructed the stable civic identity in a period of time. The common formulaic topics were the belief of the"autochthonous birth" in mythology, the pride of the Athenian education, the advocating of the virtue, the admiration of the courage, the glory of the Athenian democracy, the indefatigable pursuit of freedom and justice.In the meantime, the construction of the civic identity was developed in a dynamic process. They were given diverse interpretations by their orators during different periods. The oration of Pericles, corresponding to the time of the height power and splendor of the Athenian Empire, showed the greatness of Athens, and illuminated "we are a school of Hellas", and justified the policies of the Athenian imperialism. When Lysias and Plato wrote their funeral orations, the Athenian Empire and the Delian League had collapsed, so their wishes were to inspire Athenian courage to resist the Lacedamonians and to recover the lost glory. While Demosthenes and Hyperides delivered their funeral orations, Macedon had been becoming a chief threat to the Greek world. They reconstructed the civic identity to pursue freedom and justice, and to elucidate that Athens had the obligation, liability, and ability to lead the Greek world.The funeral orations had constructed the Athenian civic identity, as well as the Athenian history, but when we compare the Athenian history in the funeral orations with Athenian reality during the fifth and fourth centuries BC, we would detect that they could not have accorded with each other. The differences were determinated by the function of the funeral orations to mold the civic value, to publicize patriotism and collectivism, and were the results of wars. The funeral orations were the reflections of the Athenian wishes, which showed their prides, reminiscences and prospects of the imperialism periods.