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
Results 6-10 of 84
Page 20
... example, by which he suggests foreign speech by a spattering of foreign words. This concentration on the play's visual and aural dimensions, however, can obscure other aspects: how, for example, are we to understand Aeschylus ...
... example, by which he suggests foreign speech by a spattering of foreign words. This concentration on the play's visual and aural dimensions, however, can obscure other aspects: how, for example, are we to understand Aeschylus ...
Page 31
... examples below.) A related tendency leads him to arrange the oddities he has collected in a frame of systematic oppositions. The most striking example occurs in the account of Egypt; just as the Egyptian sky and † The principle of the ...
... examples below.) A related tendency leads him to arrange the oddities he has collected in a frame of systematic oppositions. The most striking example occurs in the account of Egypt; just as the Egyptian sky and † The principle of the ...
Page 32
... example of Herodotus' taste for system (3. 108. 2–4): Somehow divine forethought is, as you might expect, wise, and has made those creatures that are cowardly in spirit and edible also numerous in their progeny, so that some may be left ...
... example of Herodotus' taste for system (3. 108. 2–4): Somehow divine forethought is, as you might expect, wise, and has made those creatures that are cowardly in spirit and edible also numerous in their progeny, so that some may be left ...
Page 38
... example, in Thrace and Scythia and generally up that way, or the love of learning, which is chiefly attributed to our part of the world, or the love of money, which one might say has a particular existence among the Phoenicians and 38 ...
... example, in Thrace and Scythia and generally up that way, or the love of learning, which is chiefly attributed to our part of the world, or the love of money, which one might say has a particular existence among the Phoenicians and 38 ...
Page 47
... example of Herodotus' taste for symmetry. To return to Cambyses (who, we remember, proved his madness by scoffing at nomoi): he went so far as to conceive a desire to marry his sister. His jurisconsults told him that they found no nomos ...
... example of Herodotus' taste for symmetry. To return to Cambyses (who, we remember, proved his madness by scoffing at nomoi): he went so far as to conceive a desire to marry his sister. His jurisconsults told him that they found no nomos ...
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