Summary Of Carol Dougherty's Laying The Foundation

In the article “Laying the Foundations: Narrative and Cult”, author Carol Dougherty illustrates the creation of a Grecian narrative. Dougherty asserts that Grecian narratives include a crisis, a Delphic consultation, and a colonial foundation. The purpose of creating such narratives assists archeologists and historians to understanding the world from the Greek perspective. Dougherty believes that “crisis motivates movement” and without crisis, these narratives would not exist. Crisis in the ancient world was caused by three distinct events: shortage of land or food in mainland Greece, which was usually caused by a natural disaster such as a drought or flood. The second event which encouraged movement was overpopulation and the competition in families to acquire land. Competition
As Herodotus believed, the primary nature of the Delphic inquiry was purely geographical. The Delphi would also designate an animal guide, which was derived from ver sarum, the sacred spring ritual, a ritual practiced by the community where citizens offer fruits to Apollo in return for luck to win a war or relief from a natural disaster. The Delphi is also know to assist the oikist in resolving his crisis by giving him cryptic riddles to guide him through his journey. Consultation with the Delphic oracle signifies a turning point in the narrative, which shifts the focus from the civic crisis in Greece to the discovery of the new world. Doughtery continues to explain that, “Descriptions of colonial sites are often retrojected into the text of the colonial oracles that prompt the foundation, and this tendency toward proleptic description can be read as a part of the general reluctance to treat the actual settlement itself within the colonial narrative proper.” (pg 21) After encrypting the Delphi’s riddle, the oikist discovers the new world, and is responsible for building and developing the new city. In order to create the city, the oikist must divide the land and distribute among