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 7
... gives a disproportionate weight to the Persians, obscuring the diversity of different barbarian peoples in Greek thought. Though the Greeks on occasion spoke as if barbarians constituted a single homogeneous group39 – or as if they ...
... gives a disproportionate weight to the Persians, obscuring the diversity of different barbarian peoples in Greek thought. Though the Greeks on occasion spoke as if barbarians constituted a single homogeneous group39 – or as if they ...
Page 9
... give some sense of the variety of modern approaches. With the exception in particular of the overviews of Browning and Nippel, of Hall's treatment of archaic myth, or of the chronologically wide-ranging survey of attitudes to Egypt by ...
... give some sense of the variety of modern approaches. With the exception in particular of the overviews of Browning and Nippel, of Hall's treatment of archaic myth, or of the chronologically wide-ranging survey of attitudes to Egypt by ...
Page 12
... give an accurate portrayal of the Persian court.63 It should be stated at the outset that the Greek representation of foreign peoples is driven by a set of imperatives other than those of historical accuracy: the need to convey a ...
... give an accurate portrayal of the Persian court.63 It should be stated at the outset that the Greek representation of foreign peoples is driven by a set of imperatives other than those of historical accuracy: the need to convey a ...
Page 14
... give an impression of an established sub-discipline or of a consensus between scholars. Most of the authors whose work is contained in this volume arrive there as specialists in very disparate fields: Greek tragedy (Goldhill, Saïd) ...
... give an impression of an established sub-discipline or of a consensus between scholars. Most of the authors whose work is contained in this volume arrive there as specialists in very disparate fields: Greek tragedy (Goldhill, Saïd) ...
Page 18
... give an accurate impression of the setting of his play – the court of the Persian king Xerxes at Susa – or that, when 7 8 4 See e.g. Romm, 'Herodotus and mythic geography', The Edges of the Earth; Gianotti, 'Ordine e simmetria'. 5 Lloyd ...
... give an accurate impression of the setting of his play – the court of the Persian king Xerxes at Susa – or that, when 7 8 4 See e.g. Romm, 'Herodotus and mythic geography', The Edges of the Earth; Gianotti, 'Ordine e simmetria'. 5 Lloyd ...
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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Common terms and phrases
according Aeschylus ancient appears argument Asia Athenian Athens authors Barbarian become Cadmus called century classical common concept context contrast course culture customs dialect discussion divine early Egypt Egyptian empire especially ethnic Euripides evidence example existence fact fifth foreign further give gods Greece Greek Hall hand Hellenic Herodotus human idea identity important instance interest interpretation Isocrates Italy king land language later less linguistic matriarchy means mentioned myth nature never nomoi opposition oriental origin Paris particular period Persian Persian Wars Phoenician Plato play political possible present problem question reason refer regard relations religion Roman rule Scythians seems seen shows society sources speak speech story theory thought tradition tragedy turn University various whole women writing