Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

by Peter Watson

‘The origin of the word barbaros is early Greek, and it gained three central meanings in the course of classical antiquity which it has retained to the present day: an ethnographical, a political and an ethical definition.’95 For example, Homer used it in the Iliad, referring to the Carians in Asia Minor; he said they ‘spoke barbarically’. He meant he could not understand them, but he did not describe them as ‘mute’, as others in antiquity would dismiss foreigners, nor did he liken their language to ‘the twittering of birds or the barking of dogs’, as many others did, from China to Spain.96 As time passed, however, the Greeks’ view of themselves changed as their successes in philosophy, science, the arts and government began to ripen. They now started to think of themselves as the ‘ideal people’ and their enemies as lesser souls. In 472 BC, during the Persian wars, Aeschylus dismissed the enemy as ‘barbarians’ partly because ‘they spoke like horses’, but mainly because he thought their political traditions were primitive–they were little more than slaves subjugated to an oriental military tyrant, and did not enjoy the freedoms of the Greeks.97 ‘Barbarian’ was no longer a neutral term, but an insult. The meaning changed again during the Hellenistic period, when Greek culture and Roman government existed alongside each other in the eastern Mediterranean. Now, as men began to be judged by their humanity, according to their ethical and social habits, rather than by their milit...

Evolution of thd term barbarian