Thracian or Athenian? The Complicated Identity of Menestheus, Son of Iphicrates, in Nep. Iph. 3, 4

In the final chapter of Iphicrates’ biography, Cornelius Nepos relates that Menestheus, son of Iphicrates by the daughter of Cotys, king of the Thracians, when he was asked whether he valued more of his father or his mother, suddenly answered that he praised his mother more, because the former had made him a Thracian, but the latter an Athenian. The aim of the paper is to clarify the meaning of this bizarre and apparently incoherent anecdote: firstly, by examining the various and problematic cultural identities of Iphicrates; then, by a closer analysis of Nepos’ text and Menestheus’ words.