Rethinking on the Evolution of the Concept of “Barbarian” in Archaic Greece: From the Trojan War to Greco-Persian Wars

Abstract

In the surviving texts from the classical period of Greece, we come across a common word-especially in reference to the Achaemenid Persians-that is still used in the political literature of the contemporary world: Barbarian, derived from the Greek word βάρβαρος. This word, first used in the second book of Homer's Iliad as βαρβαρόφωνος (= speaking a foreign language), indicated only linguistic heterogeneity and meant stranger. Between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the use of this word increased and it was used not only for linguistic "othering" but also to refer to cultural differences and appreciation of the social system of non-Greeks. In the upcoming study, the authors aimed to analyze the semantic implications of the word βάρβαρος and highlight the turning points of its development by scrutinizing Homer's Iliad and other preserved fragments from the 6th century BC (Archaic period). The results of the present study, based on library sources, show that the word βάρβαρος has been associated with negative connotations (implicit or explicit) since the beginning of its existence in Homer's poetry. Moreover, with Solon's reforms in Athens and the increasing enslavement of non-Greeks in the Greek world of the 6th century BC, the boundary between the two terms "barbarian" and "slave" was gradually erased, and the humiliation of barbarian slaves led to the emergence of the idea of "Greek superiority over non-Greeks."

Keywords

• ancient greece
• othering
• barbarian
• slave
• homer