ABSTRACT
In ancient Greece, the past was preserved almost entirely by oral transmission and oral tradition. This chapter focuses on a particularly interesting group of oral traditions from the ancient Greek world, the family traditions of ancient Athens in the classical period. Family traditions start at the level of reminiscences from parent to child. The material of oral history is usually the personal reminiscences of people alive, while oral tradition is usually defined as information about the past which has been transmitted over at least one generation. The analogy of events would also affect family memory just as it did the general city traditions. As these oral traditions could not help being relevant to the present, the characteristics of the present seemed to confirm the accuracy or plausibility of the ‘history’ so passed down. Family tradition helped a man prove that he was a good citizen.
