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
... whole range of different models for making sense of the many peoples he describes. Egyptian customs often present a mirror image of those of the Greeks: Egyptian women, for instance, urinate standing, men sitting (2.35). At the same ...
... whole range of different models for making sense of the many peoples he describes. Egyptian customs often present a mirror image of those of the Greeks: Egyptian women, for instance, urinate standing, men sitting (2.35). At the same ...
Page 12
... whole series of volumes. It might also provide a distraction: critics and historians have often confused the two objects of Greek representation and foreign reality, supposing that Athenian potters intended to distinguish accurately the ...
... whole series of volumes. It might also provide a distraction: critics and historians have often confused the two objects of Greek representation and foreign reality, supposing that Athenian potters intended to distinguish accurately the ...
Page 17
... whole range of different models (relativism, polarity, diffusionism) for the understanding of foreign peoples. Herodotus' accounts of foreign peoples also cover a wide variety of topics – Herodotus finds symmetries, for example, in ...
... whole range of different models (relativism, polarity, diffusionism) for the understanding of foreign peoples. Herodotus' accounts of foreign peoples also cover a wide variety of topics – Herodotus finds symmetries, for example, in ...
Page 24
... whole”—or, as we would say, a system. Herodotus merely notes particular traits; he is not concerned with the functional, structural or stylistic coherence of the cultures he describes. Here, for instance, is his account of the ...
... whole”—or, as we would say, a system. Herodotus merely notes particular traits; he is not concerned with the functional, structural or stylistic coherence of the cultures he describes. Here, for instance, is his account of the ...
Page 26
... whole population drunk in the street. Initially the traveler is disapproving, but then: There is one answer which seems to resolve the question, so that the behavior is not wrong but right. For anyone will say in answer to the wondering ...
... whole population drunk in the street. Initially the traveler is disapproving, but then: There is one answer which seems to resolve the question, so that the behavior is not wrong but right. For anyone will say in answer to the wondering ...
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