Feature Course Spring 2018: GRS 337 Herodotus and Greek Ethnography

The ancient world was a very multicultural place and, like today, individuals had differing identities based on language, religion, place of origin, and social position. This course explores the multiple relationships Greeks had with Lydians, Persians, Egyptians, Scythians, Etruscans and Celts, to name a few. It focuses on the ethnographic accounts of these civilizations by Greek writers, particularly Herodotus and Poseidoniusof Apamea, as well as archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence from the cultures themselves. Rather than the ‘father of history, Herodotus might more correctly be called the ‘father of ethnography’.