The Invention of Greek Ethnography: From Homer to Herodotus (Greeks Overseas) - Hardcover

Skinner, Joseph E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199793603 ISBN 13: 9780199793600

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Greek knowledge of and interest in foreign peoples is commonly believed to have developed in conjunction with a wider sense of "Greekness" that emerged during the Hellenic encounter with Achaemenid Persia during the late sixth to early fifth centuries BC. The dramatic nature of this "clash of cultures" is widely thought to have laid the foundations for prose descriptions of foreign lands and peoples by causing previously vague imaginings to crystallize into a diametric opposition between "Hellene" and "barbarian."

The Invention of Greek Ethnography challenges the legitimacy of this narrative. Drawing on recent advances in ethnographic and cultural studies and material culture-based analyses of the ancient Mediterranean, Joseph Skinner argues that ethnographic discourse was already widespread throughout the archaic Greek world long before the invention of ethnographic prose, incorporating not only texts but also a wide range of iconographic and archaeological materials. The reconstruction of this "ethnography before ethnography" demonstrates that discourses of identity played a vital role in defining what it meant to be Greek in the first place. The development of ethnographic writing and historiography is shown to be rooted in a wider process of "positioning" that was continually unfurling across time, as groups and individuals scattered across the Mediterranean world sought to locate themselves in relation to both the narratives of the past and other people. The Invention of Greek Ethnography provides a shift in critical perspective that will have significant implications for our understanding of how Greek identity came into being, the manner in which early discourses of difference should be conceptualized, and the way in which narrative history should ultimately be interpreted.

About this title

About the Author:

Joseph E. Skinner is Lecturer in Ancient Greek History at Newcastle University.

Review:

"The Invention of Greek Ethnography is a welcome addition to studies of identity in the ancient Mediterranean. Ambitious in scope and intelligent in execution, the book positions the question of ethnographic prose in the broad context of Mediterranean engagements with cultural identity, articulated in art historical and archaeological as well as literary sources."--Sandra Blakely, Classical Journal

"This dense, well-written and documented book lives up to the formidable aim of providing fresh reappraisal of the origin of ethnographic literature in Greek as well as of the dynamics of interconnectivity between the Greeks and other peoples in the archaic Mediterranean world prior to the Persian Wars."--S.C. Caneva, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Skilflfully correlating numismatic, artistic, and archaeological evidence to reinforce--or contradict--the literary record, Skinner makes a strong, fascinating case. On Herodotus he is particularly rewarding, insisting that scholars should give earlier authors and contemporaries the same contextual treatment as they bestow on the Histories: those questions of identity and difference that lie at the heart of the Herodotean narrative are strinkingly carified as a result. Highly recommended."--P.M. Green, CHOICE

"Skinner provides an expert critique on ancient ethnographic attitudes and modern preoccupations with ethnographical thought in ancient Greece. By combining literary analysis with discussion of the material evidence, Skinner shows how ethnographic interest was not invented in the fifth century; rather, our modern preoccupation with such an 'invention' is the result of 19th and 20th century developments in modern scholarship. His masterful analysis makes this book a pleasure to read."--Christy Constantakopoulou, Birkbeck College

"Joseph Skinner convincingly demonstrates the extent and breadth (in visual media as well as in texts) of early ethnographical discourse in the intensely interactive and mobile world of the archaic Mediterranean. He encourages us to think in new and exciting ways about Herodotus, the history of our discipline, and Greekness itself."--Emma Dench, Harvard University

"Skinner's innovative and stimulating book thoughtfully analyzes an impressive range of material (vases, coins, texts, archaeological remains), and his central claim-that the Greeks were concerned with the 'Other' long before the formal genre of ethnography appeared-is convincingly demonstrated, and offers important insights into the development of Greek historiography."--John Marincola, Florida State University

"[T]his is a book that should change what we say and what we teach about how Greeks thought about themselves and how they thought about others." --Journal of Classics Teaching

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199793603
• ISBN 13: 9780199793600
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368