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 17
... show how Herodotus' ethnography is vital to his presentation of historical causation.1 Perhaps the most important contribution of Redfield's piece, however, is to bring out the way in which Herodotus' accounts of foreign peoples are ...
... show how Herodotus' ethnography is vital to his presentation of historical causation.1 Perhaps the most important contribution of Redfield's piece, however, is to bring out the way in which Herodotus' accounts of foreign peoples are ...
Page 20
... shows how Greek conceptions of the imagined wealth, the innate slavishness and the barbarity of barbarian peoples are repeatedly undermined by the context in which they are introduced by the playwright: how, for example, the Phrygian ...
... shows how Greek conceptions of the imagined wealth, the innate slavishness and the barbarity of barbarian peoples are repeatedly undermined by the context in which they are introduced by the playwright: how, for example, the Phrygian ...
Page 21
... shows – through the barbaric punishment of a Persian at the hands of the father of Pericles (and through an ironic flashback to the height of the 'hardness' of the Persians) – the Athenians taking on the mantle of empire from the ...
... shows – through the barbaric punishment of a Persian at the hands of the father of Pericles (and through an ironic flashback to the height of the 'hardness' of the Persians) – the Athenians taking on the mantle of empire from the ...
Page 22
... show the moment of penetration, the triumphant act? As it is, the most the vase can claim is, “We have high hopes of buggering the Persians.”'33 Many other questions relating to artistic evidence remain uncovered – in particular, that ...
... show the moment of penetration, the triumphant act? As it is, the most the vase can claim is, “We have high hopes of buggering the Persians.”'33 Many other questions relating to artistic evidence remain uncovered – in particular, that ...
Page 27
... shows himself comfortable with his own culture, which is strong enough to sustain him even in his temporary position as an outsider. I am at home elsewhere, he says; therefore you will accept the fact that I am different, as I enjoy the ...
... shows himself comfortable with his own culture, which is strong enough to sustain him even in his temporary position as an outsider. I am at home elsewhere, he says; therefore you will accept the fact that I am different, as I enjoy the ...
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