Greeks And BarbariansEdinburgh University Press, 2019 M07 30 - 288 pages How did the Greeks view foreign peoples? This book considers what the Greeks thought of foreigners and their religions, cultures and politics, and what these beliefs and opinions reveal about the Greeks. The Greeks were occasionally intrigued by the customs and religions of the many different peoples with whom they came into contact; more often they were disdainful or dismissive, tending to regard non-Greeks as at best inferior, and at worst as candidates for conquest and enslavement. Facing up to this less attractive aspect of the classical tradition is vital, Thomas Harrison argues, to seeing both what the ancient world was really like and the full nature of its legacy in the modern. In this book he brings together outstanding European and American scholarship to show the difference and complexity of Greek representations of foreign peoples - or barbarians, as the Greeks called them - and how these representations changed over time.The book looks first at the main sources: the Histories of Herodotus, Greek tragedy, and Athenian art. Part II examines how the Greeks distinguished themselves from barbarians through myth, language and religion. Part III considers Greek representations of two different barbarian peoples - the allegedly decadent and effeminate Persians, and the Egyptians, proverbial for their religious wisdom. In part IV three chapters trace the development of the Greek-barbarian antithesis in later history: in nineteenth-century scholarship, in Byzantine and modern Greece, and in western intellectual history.Of the twelve chapters six are published in English for the first time. The editor has provided an extensive general introduction, as well as introductions to the parts. The book contains two maps, a guide to further reading and an intellectual chronology. All passages of ancient languages are translated, and difficult terms are explained. |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... writing in the same period, reserved real hostility for the Peloponnesians, while the Persians were the butt only of humour.30 Nevertheless, the Persians remained central, both 25 23 Contrast Hall, Inventing the Barbarian, pp. 16–17. 24 ...
... writing in the same period, reserved real hostility for the Peloponnesians, while the Persians were the butt only of humour.30 Nevertheless, the Persians remained central, both 25 23 Contrast Hall, Inventing the Barbarian, pp. 16–17. 24 ...
Page 12
... writing the history of barbarian peoples – of the ancient Persians, say, or Thracians – is an immensely complex one. In large part, we must rely in doing so on non-Greek evidence, in so far as it exists – in the case of Persia, for ...
... writing the history of barbarian peoples – of the ancient Persians, say, or Thracians – is an immensely complex one. In large part, we must rely in doing so on non-Greek evidence, in so far as it exists – in the case of Persia, for ...
Page 18
... writers on barbarian peoples, such as Hecataeus of Miletus, Xanthus of Lydia, or Hellanicus of Lesbos,7 of Hippocratic medical texts such as Airs, Waters, Places,8 and of the fourth-century doctor in the court of the Persian king ...
... writers on barbarian peoples, such as Hecataeus of Miletus, Xanthus of Lydia, or Hellanicus of Lesbos,7 of Hippocratic medical texts such as Airs, Waters, Places,8 and of the fourth-century doctor in the court of the Persian king ...
Page 50
... writing'. In general, see e.g. R. Winnington-Ingram, Studies in Aeschylus (Cambridge 1983) 1–15; H. Kitto, Greek tragedy2 (London 1961) 33–45, 'Political thought in Aeschylus', Dioniso xliii (1969) 160–5 and, in particular, Poiesis ...
... writing'. In general, see e.g. R. Winnington-Ingram, Studies in Aeschylus (Cambridge 1983) 1–15; H. Kitto, Greek tragedy2 (London 1961) 33–45, 'Political thought in Aeschylus', Dioniso xliii (1969) 160–5 and, in particular, Poiesis ...
Page 54
... writing. 17 See e.g. Gagarin (n. 2) 44–5; Anderson (n. 4) 170–2. 18 Athens into a maritime power (αναγκα ́σα θαλασσου γε ́νεσθαι 'Αθηναου [having. See e.g. Podlecki (n. 2) 15, and Winnington-Ingram, Gnomon xxxix (1967) 641–3. Verrall ...
... writing. 17 See e.g. Gagarin (n. 2) 44–5; Anderson (n. 4) 170–2. 18 Athens into a maritime power (αναγκα ́σα θαλασσου γε ́νεσθαι 'Αθηναου [having. See e.g. Podlecki (n. 2) 15, and Winnington-Ingram, Gnomon xxxix (1967) 641–3. Verrall ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
PART II THEMES | 125 |
PART III PEOPLES | 187 |
PART IV OVERVIEWS | 229 |
Intellectual Chronology | 311 |
Guide to Further Reading | 313 |
Bibliography | 314 |
Index | 328 |
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