Why, he wondered, did the peoples of East and West find it so hard to live in peace? The answer appeared, superficially, a simple one. Asiatics, Herodotus reported, saw Europe as a place irreconcilably alien. ‘And so it is they believe that Greeks will always be their enemies.’3 But why this fracture had opened in the first place was, Herodotus acknowledged, a puzzle. Perhaps the kidnapping of a princess or two by Greek pirates had been to blame? Or the burning of Troy? ‘That, at any rate, is what many nations of Asia argue – but who can say for sure if they are right?’4 As Herodotus well
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