Genealogies and Politics: Phocus on the Road

On usually refers to all the figures named „Phocus“ as one and the same Phocus, the alleged eponymous hero of the Phocians, and wonder why he has so many „Doppelgänger“: one or more Homeric heroes, a son of Aecus, a son of Ornytion, and so on. This paper assumes instead that there are many different heroes whose names are Phocus, and wonders to what extent and why they were linked. Indeed the contradictory stories about Phocus represent an interesting case of the permeability of the heroes' genealogies and of the traditional narratives about them in archaic and classical Greece. A survey of the sources shows that all the figures named „Phocus“ were more than once linked together to express specific needs. These needs reflect different aims and historical events which are ascribable mainly to the archaic and classical periods. Moreover, they are concerned with Phocis as well as with Corinth, Aegina, Locris, Thebes and Thessaly. By reconstructing wherever possible the chronological context of the different layers and overlaps and by linking them to the several traditions concerning heroes named Phocus, it is possible to construct a map which describes some of the relationships, some geopolitical landscapes and, to a certain extent, even some geopolitical lines working in Central Greece and beyond from the archaic to the Roman period.