Imperialism produced a foundation legend nationalism never had

Evidence

Legends, however, are not ideologies; they do not aim at universal explanation but are always concerned with concrete facts. It seems rather significant that the growth of national bodies was nowhere accompanied by a foundation legend, and that a first unique attempt in modern times was made precisely when the decline of the national body had become obvious and imperialism seemed to take the place of old-fashioned nationalism. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 538

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why did nations, unlike ancient cities and imperial formations, generate no foundation legends? Arendt gestures at this as significant but does not fully explain the mechanism here.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 538