Leiden University Student Repository

Wu, Tong (2023)

Barbarians in pre-classical Greek literature: antithesis or mirror?

Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)

This thesis will discuss the representation of non-Greek people in pre-classical Greek literature, and the reception of such narration in modern literature, namely the novel (That Time I Got Reincarnated as Iphigenia) I wrote during the research of this work. There are three chapters for the thesis. In chapter 1, I will reassess the first two chapters of Edith Hall’s Inventing the Barbarian, which focus on the comparison of image between the Greeks and non-Greeks in the Iliad and the Persians; in the former, it shows faint evidence of non-Greek ethnicity in contrast of the Hellenic code of conduct, and the latter demonstrates a completed construction of representing the non-Greek (Persians) as the antithesis of the Greeks. Chapter 2 will investigate the use of the word βάρβαρος in various of pre-classical texts, and I will assess the transformation of its meaning by different authors and different stages of time, and how these meaning nuance with each other. Chapter 3 will talk...Show moreThis thesis will discuss the representation of non-Greek people in pre-classical Greek literature, and the reception of such narration in modern literature, namely the novel (That Time I Got Reincarnated as Iphigenia) I wrote during the research of this work. There are three chapters for the thesis. In chapter 1, I will reassess the first two chapters of Edith Hall’s Inventing the Barbarian, which focus on the comparison of image between the Greeks and non-Greeks in the Iliad and the Persians; in the former, it shows faint evidence of non-Greek ethnicity in contrast of the Hellenic code of conduct, and the latter demonstrates a completed construction of representing the non-Greek (Persians) as the antithesis of the Greeks. Chapter 2 will investigate the use of the word βάρβαρος in various of pre-classical texts, and I will assess the transformation of its meaning by different authors and different stages of time, and how these meaning nuance with each other. Chapter 3 will talk about classical reception, and how the narration of the non-Greek ethnicity in my novel was influenced by these pre-classical works.Show less

Ancient Greek Archaic Literature

Author

Wu, Tong

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Boletsi, Maria.
Jonge, Casper. de

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en