Oriental Mirages
Stereotypes and Identity Creation in the Ancient World
- 343 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Edward Said, in his seminal book Orientalism, perceived clear links between the ancient Greek and Roman stereotypes of the East and the prejudiced European nineteenth-century picture of the Muslim world, which was considered exotic, backward, uncivilised, degenerate, and dangerous, in contrast with the Western societies that were seen as developed, rational, flexible, and, above all, superior. However, the reality is much more complex – shaped by both the imperialist perceptions of defeated enemies embraced by all Middle Eastern empires going back at least to the Assyrians, and the intermixed admiration and jealousy of the old 'Eastern' traditions of learning. Part of the Greek and Roman stereotypes of the East are rooted in the interaction with eastern imperial ideals, being taken over and further developed to strengthen common Hellenic and Roman identities. Due to the subsequent free borrowing of these stereotypes and their application to different societies, the Orient has always been a moving '(n)everwhere' with each culture constructing their own Oriental mirages.
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Table of contents
- Preface
- Contents
- Björn Forsén / Antti Lampinen: Barbarians and Empire Greek and Roman Conceptions of the East
- Joseph Skinner: ‘Greeks in the Making?’ Early Greek Mercenary Service, Stereotypes and Identity-Formation
- Kostas Vlassopoulos: The Barbarian Repertoire and its Visual Stereotypes around 500 BC Revisiting the Main Issues
- Thomas Harrison: Greek Religion and the Other
- Elina Pyy: Gratuitous Sex and Senseless Violence? The Oriental Queen as the Absolute Other
- Omar Coloru: Indians in the Graeco-Roman World A Stereotype of Otherness
- Antti Lampinen: Galatae between Northern and Eastern Stereotypes Methods, Motives and Motifs of ‘Orientalisation’
- Jasmin Lukkari: Stereotypes, Cultural Identities and Code-Switching Polybius’ and Livy’s Portrayals of Antiochus IV
- Dominique Lenfant: A Persian Seraglio in a Greek Novel? Chariton’s Callirhoe and Modern Stereotypes on the Orient
- Antti Lampinen: Explaining the East Forming and Applying Eastern Stereotypes in the Graeco-Roman Tradition
- Index nominum
- Index locorum