The Common Foreign Cover Image

Obce jako wspólne
The Common Foreign

On the Margins of Herodotus’s Work

Author(s): Nina Gładziuk
Subject(s): History, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Sociology
Published by: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Keywords: Herodotus; Europe – Asia, xenology; Greek civilization and the sea; extraterritoriality; cosmopolitanism; a stranger – a guest; domestic – foreign; xenophilia; xenophobia

Summary/Abstract: The Histories by Herodotus can also be read as a work on xenology, which helps to show how what came to be Hellenic emerged from what was foreign in the early stages of Hellenic culture development. Greek civilization, which was the first to formulate cosmopolitan ideas, owed much of its genius to the extraterritorial nature of the sea. It is thanks to the sea that the civilization, and its Athenian variant in particular, evolved into a lifestyle that could be adapted anywhere. One of its essential features was the permanent experience of the foreign, both in terms of contact with what was foreign and of being foreign oneself.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 19
  • Page Range: 27-58
  • Page Count: 32
  • Language: Polish