James Hua (University of Oxford)
In this talk, I will argue that displaced populations in the Classical Greek world crafted a new ‘displaced identity’ that has not been noticed before. Moving beyond studies that focus on how expelled populations revived their civic identities and institutions (Gray 2015, 2017), I propose that these populations also created a new set of self-definitions that incorporated their experience of expulsion much more closely. By foregrounding this identity when in exile, these populations were able to forge new communities with other displaced peoples, and thereby garner social and political advantages previously unavailable to them. To uncover the operation and extent of this overlooked identity, I will focus on the case study of the refugee Samians.
In 365 B.C., the Samian population was ruthlessly expelled from Samos by the Athenian cleruchs under Timotheus. Almost half a century later, in 322, the remnants were allowed to return to Samos under Alexander the Great’s Exile Decree. Yet, this was not the first instance of displacement that the Samians had undergone: they had been forcibly removed from their island at least four times previously in the fifth century (494, 440, 412, 403 B.C). With this context in mind, had a new identity been formed among the Samians during their extended period(s) of displacement? How is it manifested in the evidence they produced during their repatriation in 322? What purposes did it serve?
To answer this, I will study the often-overlooked set of 48 honorific inscriptions produced by the Samian exiles during their repatriation between 322-281. Rather than approaching them to reconstruct historical events (Habicht 1957, Shipley 1987), I will analyse how the displaced Samians chose to define themselves in their post-exile period. By turning to one inscription in particular, IG XII.6.1.42, honouring a certain Antileon of Chalcis for helping the Samians return in 322, I argue that the Samians carefully tap into and re-align memories of their previous displacements (particularly in 412) in their narrative. By doing so, the Samians use their past expulsions to frame their repatriation in 322 into a success story and to re-conceptualise their history as one of displacement. This re-writing of their social memory via displacement thus provides a valuable means for this diaspora to negotiate a new identity. By contextualising this process in their other repatriation inscriptions and Samos' contemporary polis histories, I suggest that this ‘displaced identity’ was part of a broader program, and enabled the Samians to forge new political ties with other displaced communities in Asia Minor and more broadly.
This has significant implications for ancient Greek population displacements, and suggests that we should re-analyse the evidence of other displaced people through this lens. My talk also seeks to illuminate and draw on modern refugee crises, especially through the theories of ‘campzenship’ (Sigona 2015) and refugee agency (Rubinstein 2018, Isayev 2017). Ultimately, my approach aims to give agency back to displaced populations, and reappraise their own narratives so often assumed invisible.