Black Doves Speak: Herodotus And The Languages Of Barbarians
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2005
Published In
Black Doves Speak: Herodotus And The Languages Of Barbarians
Abstract
In Greek thought barbaroi are utterers of unintelligible or inarticulate sounds. What importance does the text of Herodotus's Histories attribute to language as a criterion of ethnic identity? The answer to this question illuminates the empirical foundations of Herodotus's pluralistic worldview. "The first translator of cultures also translates describes and evaluates foreign speech to a degree unparalleled by other Greek ancient authors. For Herodotus, language is an area of interesting but surprisingly unproblematic difference which he offers to his audience as a model for coming to terms in a neutral way with other, more emotionally charged, cultural differences.
Published By
Center for Hellenic Studies
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Rosaria Vignolo Munson. (2005). Black Doves Speak: Herodotus And The Languages Of Barbarians.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-classics/38
Comments
This work is freely available under a Creative Commons license.