I racconti di fondazione su Colofone

Abstract

In the tradition there are clear traces of Colophon foundation accounts in relation to three different moments of the city population: (1) one Cretan population with Racios, (2) one Theban with Mopsos and (3) one Pylian with Andremon or the arrival of the Codrides with Damasicton and Promethus. These three accounts could be reduced to two if the Theban tale belonged to the Ionian moment. In Pausanias there is a Panionian interpretation of the Colophon Ionian foundation; according to this interpretation, which could be born in a period between the Pisistratides ages and the V century b.C. under the Athenian influence, Colophon could be Ionian because of the two Codrides. This Ionian account could replace the earlier tradition of a Pylian foundation that leaves traces in the ancient sources because the connection with Pylos is already rooted.