Vasunia, P; (2017) Nationalism and cosmopolitanism: on the gods of Greece, Italy, and India. In: Zajko, V and Hoyle, H, (eds.) A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology. (pp. 179-191). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, USA.

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Abstract

A new form of cultural cosmopolitanism arose in Europe, in the second half of the eighteenth century, partly as a consequence of the enlightenment and partly as the result of an increased colonial presence in Asia. One of its most illustrious and influential exponents was William Jones, the linguist, translator, and judge for the East India Company in Calcutta. His lecture “On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India”, written in 1784 and subsequently revised, offers a perspective on myth that is supple, flexible, and wide‐ranging. Jones's cosmopolitanism turned on the notion that all human beings, ultimately, derived from a common origin. In this idea, he was not far from Johann Gottfried Herder, whose work, however, inspired nationalist rather than cosmopolitan movements in the nineteenth century. Herder's impact on nationalism should be set against Jones's cosmopolitan approaches to history, literature, and culture.

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