The invention of Greek Ethnography
Upper House Seminar
This paper adopts a novel approach to the study of ethnographic discourse and its relationship to overarching notions of Greek identity during the Archaic-early Classical periods. Incorporating a variety of textual, iconographic, and archaeological materials, it questions the legitimacy of viewing ethnography, historiography, and even Greek identity itself as 5th century ‘inventions’ associated with the struggle against the Barbarian (Achaemenid Persia). In overturning the (now commonplace) assumption that Greeks showed relatively little interest in foreign manners and customs prior to the 5th century BC, this study has significant implications for current understanding of the means by which a wider sense of Greek identity came into being, the manner in which early discourses of identity and difference should be conceptualized and the way in which Great Historiography should ultimately be interpreted.
Speaker(s): Dr Joseph Skinner (University of Liverpool) Organizer(s): British School at Athens Location(s): British School at Athens (Upper House) Event Type: Upper House Seminar Time: 1900 - Date: April 19, 2010 |
