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The recreation of the past in Greek imaginary thought : the myth of Theseus and its use as a historical source, DHA 35/1, 2009, 11-40. In the Athenian imaginary, the myth of Theseus can be connected with two essential periods of the construction of the polis : the synoecism and the birth of democracy. The elaboration of the synoecism myth is rooted in the Archaic period, whereas the myth of Theseus the founder of democracy is developed during the fifth and fourth centuries. The Athenians use these two traditions at different periods of their history to think, shape and root the political features and alterations of their city in a mythic past.