L’origine a fondamento? Platone e gli usi politici del mito dell’autoctonia

In the golden age of classical Athens, the myth of autochthony spreads in an increasingly massive way. This tale establishes the filial and exclusive bond of the Athenians with their land, from which they were born without ever migrating. From a mythical narration, therefore, this ideal becomes a symbolic matrix with a high performative value, to justify the primacy of the Athenian genos in the internal and external political structures of the polis. In an original way, the paper aims to problematize some constitutive dynamics of this myth, taking Plato’s perspective as a point of reference. Specifically, the investigation intends to understand if, for the Philosopher, the native origin of citizens can constitute the legitimate foundation of a political project. From an accurate textual analysis derives a complex and polyvocal scenario: “noble lie”, the autochthony must be divulged by a “philosophical rhetoric”, because only this way can it prove to be a useful expedient to increase the cohesion of the civic body and reinvigorate in citizens the sense belonging to their community.