Promotional Information

Did ancient Greeks regard Persians and Egyptians as servile 'barbarians,' by way of indicating their own superiority? Did Romans believe that Carthaginians were essentially perfidious, Gauls and Germans primitive, Jews weird and despicable? With deep learning and a graceful style, Gruen shows that these modern generalizations are wide of the mark, and that ancient attitudes toward foreigners were nuanced and by and large positive. The book invites us to inquire whether scholars have projected onto the classical world a sense of ethnic 'otherness' more characteristic of our own. -- David Konstan, Brown University This erudite and lucid treatment of the limits of tolerance and open-mindedness toward the Other in ancient Greece, Rome, and the Jewish world deals with a topic central to our evaluation of any society. The book will be an all-important source of information and will stimulate renewed discussion of the moral standards of the ancients in their attitudes toward foreigners. This absorbingly written work will lead to a reconsideration of questions regarding ethnic identity in the ancient Mediterranean world. -- Benjamin Isaac, Tel Aviv University 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, Roman, and Jewish 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 This is an excellent and timely book on an important topic. Gruen persuasively argues that the model of the Other does not work for antiquity. Instead of consistently negative stereotypes he finds complexity and nuance, negative stereotypes being balanced by positive images, a willingness to acknowledge foreign influence on one's own culture, and, particularly striking, widespread desire to claim kinship relationships. -- Stanley M. Burstein, professor emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles Gruen offers a defense of many prominent cultures--including the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Jews, Gauls, and Carthaginians--against overextended charges of polarizing worldviews of each other. He looks at hundreds of examples and finds that the ancient sources' discussions of difference also recognize sameness, borrowing, relatedness, and indebtedness. The entire book is magnificently documented. The range of scholarship is very impressive. -- Donald Lateiner, Ohio Wesleyan University

Table of Contents

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

About the Author

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".

Reviews

Shortlisted for the 2012 Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League "[T]he range of research, and the depth of thought, are extraordinary. Gruen has taken on a massively important subject, and he has brought a genuinely new perspective to the scholarly conversation."--Emily Wilson, New Republic "[Gruen] is at his best when he dissects Greco-Roman perceptions of the Jews and the Jewish reception of Greco-Roman culture and accommodation with the world of the goyim."--Choice "Rethinking the Other in Antiquity, by Erich S. Gruen, out this month from Princeton University Press, like all excellent scholarship massages the mind in useful new directions... Gruen's mission ... is to unpack the contrary story, far less told: 'that Greeks, Romans, and Jews (who provide us with almost all the relevant extant texts) had far more mixed, nuanced, and complex opinions about other peoples.' In the main text and many useful footnotes of this info-packed but never boring study, Gruen accomplishes that."--Carlin Romano, Chronicle Review "Anthropologists should seriously consider Gruen's case, and it would be wonderful if this appreciation of and openness to different peoples and cultures could somehow enter into contemporary politics and culture."--Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database "Rethinking the Other is an extremely valuable departure from a scholarly viewpoint that has threatened to become ossified of late, and as such is very worthwhile to everyone involved in the study of ancient conceptions of foreignness and belonging."--Antti Lampinen, ARCTOS "Erich Gruen's Rethinking the Other in Antiquity is a book that, for one reason or another, desperately needed to be written, ideally by someone possessing G.'s authoritative command of the vast array of sources indicative of ancient knowledge of, and interest in, foreign peoples... The result is a provocative, wide-ranging and thoroughly engaging volume that is both beautifully produced--with copious footnotes, helpful indices and handsome book-jacket featuring a (highly apposite) janiform vase--and (very) reasonably priced. The latter is fortuitous since it will automatically become a set text for courses touching on ancient self-conception and relations with foreign peoples and mandatory reading for anyone researching these and cognate fields."--Joseph Skinner, Journal of Roman Studies "Rethinking the Other in Antiquity amounts to a major reassessment of an important topic. In light of the voluminous evidence Gruen assembles, it seems untenable to contend that Greek, Roman, and Jewish views of other cultures can be reduced to self-serving stereotypes and denigrations. Hopefully his book will help usher in more nuanced and charitable perspectives."--Eric Adler, European Legacy