Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Comparing is a base operation in the description of foreigners. Yet, its role in Hellenistic ethnography is still understudied. The paper looks at practices of comparing in the ethnographic texts of Polybius, Posidonius and Strabo in the 2nd and 1st century BC, which served to integrate the (newly discovered) peoples of western Europe into Greek views of the world. It shows both that the conquest of these areas by the Romans changed Greek perceptions of western ‘barbarians’ and that older ethnographic traditions were still retained.
Source: Classica Cracoviensia
Author: Julian Gieseke
Institution: Bielefeld University
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405942536