Gruen, E: Rethinking the Other in Antiquity

List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 PART I. IMPRESSIONS OF THE "OTHER" CHAPTER ONE: Persia in the Greek Perception: Aeschylus and Herodotus 09 Aeschylus' Persae 09 Herodotus 21 Some Visual Representations 40 CHAPTER TWO: Persia in the Greek Perception: Xenophon and Alexander 53 Xenophon's Cyropaedia 53 Alexander and the Persians 65 CHAPTER THREE: Egypt in the Classical Imagination 76 Herodotus 76 Diodorus 90 Assorted Assessments 99 Plutarch 111 CHAPTER FOUR: Punica Fides 115 The Hellenic Backdrop 116 In the Shadow of the Punic Wars 122 The Manipulation of the Image 132 The Enhancement of the Image 137 CHAPTER FIVE: Caesar on the Gauls 141 Prior Portraits 141 The Caesarian Rendering 147 CHAPTER SIX: Tacitus on the Germans 159 Germans and Romans 159 Interpretatio Romana? 169 CHAPTER SEVEN: Tacitus and the Defamation of the Jews 179 The Question 180 Tacitean Irony 187 CHAPTER EIGHT: People of Color 197 Textual Images 197 Visual Images 211 PART II. CONNECTIONS WITH THE "OTHER" CHAPTER NINE: Foundation Legends 223 Foundation Tales as Cultural Thievery 224 Pelops 227 Danaus 229 Cadmus 233 Athenians and Pelasgians 236 Rome, Troy, and Arcadia 243 Israel's Fictive Founders 250 CHAPTER TEN: Fictitious Kinships: Greeks and Others 253 Perseus as Multiculturalist 253 Athens and Egypt 265 The Legend of Nectanebos 267 Numidians and the Near East 272 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Fictitious Kinships: Jews and Others 277 The Separatist Impression 277 The Bible's Other Side 287 Ishmaelites and Arabs 299 Jews and Greeks as Kinsmen 302 CHAPTER TWELVE: Cultural Interlockings and Overlappings 308 Jews and Greeks as Philosophers 308 Jewish Presentations of Gentiles 325 Phoenicians and Greeks 341 Roman Adaptation and Appropriation 343 Conclusion 352 Bibliography 359 Index of Citations 385 Subject Index 403

Erich S. Gruen is the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics (emeritus) at the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans and Heritage and Hellenism: The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition.

Greeks often referred to other peoples as 'barbarians,' while Romans considered themselves destined to rule the world, and viewed many of their subjects and adversaries (Greeks, Jews, Persians) with distrust or contempt. 'Otherness' can seem an ineradicable element of Greek and Roman thought. But Erich Gruen urges us to 'rethink the Other,' arguing with his customary verve and erudition that ancient attitudes were more nuanced than has often been supposed.--Christopher Jones, Harvard University