Panhellenism and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece

This is the first book in English to provide a systematic treatment of Panhellenism. The author argues that in archaic and classical Greece Panhellenism defined the community of the Hellenes and gave it political substance. Panhellenism also responded to other needs of the community, in particular serving to locate the Hellenes in time and space. One of the chief Panhellenic narratives, the war against the barbarian, provided the conceptual framework in which Alexander the Great could imagine his Asian campaign.

Lynette Mitchell is Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter. She has published widely on Greek history of the archaic and classical periods, including Greeks Bearing Gifts (CUP 1997). She has also edited, with P.J. Rhodes, The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece (Routledge 1997).