mythology of governance in ancient greece: ‘an essay on historical epistemology of the public’

the present article aims to explicate the difference between perceptions of conceptual relations governing the public in different eras. therefore, this can be achieved through considering ancient greece as the birthplace of western traditions and deciphering the mythological meaning of governance in that era. to this end, it takes advantage of a hermeneutical-historical point of view to review myths of ''athena'' and ''hephaestus'' by analyzing the personal characteristics of each god and interpreting them, trying to make a conclusion by combining the two mythical characters - from whom the first greek king was generated. then, this hermeneutical view is studied in a social-political context, to examine the conceptual transformation of governance in a bid to explain the move from consolidating the polis in the era of heroism (an outward-oriented governance) to maintaining it in the age of democracy (an inward-oriented governance). in the end, we will address a comparative study of the difference between perceptions of the governance in the form of a state, the concept of representation, and conceptual transformations between the public and the private in the modern era with those of the ancient greece.