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
Page 1
... play the Persians has been described (by Edith Hall) as 'the first unmistakable file in the archive of Orientalism, the discourse by which the European imagination has dominated Asia ... by conceptualising its inhabitants as defeated ...
... play the Persians has been described (by Edith Hall) as 'the first unmistakable file in the archive of Orientalism, the discourse by which the European imagination has dominated Asia ... by conceptualising its inhabitants as defeated ...
Page 17
... play the Persians, performed in 472 bc within a decade of Xerxes' expedition to Greece. In another sense, however, they provide a natural starting point. As James Redfield's 'Herodotus the Tourist' (Ch. 1) demonstrates, the Histories ...
... play the Persians, performed in 472 bc within a decade of Xerxes' expedition to Greece. In another sense, however, they provide a natural starting point. As James Redfield's 'Herodotus the Tourist' (Ch. 1) demonstrates, the Histories ...
Page 18
... 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, Polarity and Analogy; Cartledge, The Greeks. 6 ...
... 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, Polarity and Analogy; Cartledge, The Greeks. 6 ...
Page 19
... play is more conventional. Like many of the play's modern interpreters, he sees it as strikingly sympathetic to the plight of the defeated Persians: for Aeschylus to have composed a kommos (or lament) for a defeated enemy is a ...
... play is more conventional. Like many of the play's modern interpreters, he sees it as strikingly sympathetic to the plight of the defeated Persians: for Aeschylus to have composed a kommos (or lament) for a defeated enemy is a ...
Page 20
... play's visual and aural dimensions, however, can obscure other aspects: how, for example, are we to understand Aeschylus' unrealistic elevation of Xerxes' father Darius into a positive model of kingship?19 The play can also be usefully ...
... play's visual and aural dimensions, however, can obscure other aspects: how, for example, are we to understand Aeschylus' unrealistic elevation of Xerxes' father Darius into a positive model of kingship?19 The play can also be usefully ...
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