Ethnicity and Foreigners in Ancient Greece and China: A comparative Analysis of the Histories of Herodotus and the Shiji of Sima Qian
This thesis is a comparative analysis of the representation of foreigners in Ancient Greece and China. It argues that Archaic and Classical Greece was an integral part of the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilization and that this had a major impact on the ways in which the Greeks chose to represent foreigners in their literature. It also seeks to show that the Ancient Chinese of the Han dynasty were as assertive as the Greeks in claiming their ethnic superiority over non-Chinese, but concludes that, although the two cultures shared the same breadth and variety of prejudices towards outsiders, they, nonetheless, due to historical, political and cultural circumstances, chose to emphasize different categories of differentiation. Through the examination of the two principal texts chosen for the analysis, the Shiji and the Histories, and other primary sources, the thesis demonstrates the similarities and differences between the Greek and Han Chinese representations of foreigners, both nomadic and sedentary. It is observed that both the Chinese and the Greek representations of nomads are remarkably similar, reflecting the real, noticeable differences in material culture between the sedentary worlds
Kim, Hyun Jin
Ethnicity and Foreigners in Ancient Greece and China: A comparative Analysis of the Histories of Herodotus and the Shiji of Sima Qian. This thesis is a comparative analysis of the representation of foreigners in Ancient Greece and China. It argues that Archaic and Classical Greece was an integral part of the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilization and that this had a major impact on the ways in which the Greeks chose to represent foreigners in their literature. It also seeks to show that the Ancient Chinese of the Han dynasty were as assertive as the Greeks in claiming their ethnic superiority over non-Chinese, but concludes that, although the two cultures shared the same breadth and variety of prejudices towards outsiders, they, nonetheless, due to historical, political and cultural circumstances, chose to emphasize different categories of differentiation. Through the examination of the two principal texts chosen for the analysis, the Shiji and the Histories, and other primary sources, the thesis demonstrates the similarities and differences between the Greek and Han Chinese representations of foreigners, both nomadic and sedentary. It is observed that both the Chinese and the Greek representations of nomads are remarkably similar, reflecting the real, noticeable differences in material culture between the sedentary worlds
ethnicity ancient_greece china comparative_analysis histories herodotus comparative_analysis representation foreigner ancient_greece china argues archaic classical_greece integral_part wider eastern_mediterranean near_eastern civilization major impact way greeks choose represent foreigner literature also seek_show ancient chinese han_dynasty assertive greeks claim ethnic superiority non chinese concludes although culture share breadth variety prejudice towards outsider nonetheless due historical political_cultural circumstance choose emphasize different_category differentiation examination two_principal text choose analysis histories primary_source demonstrate similarity_difference greek han_chinese representation foreigner nomadic sedentary observe chinese greek representation nomad remarkably_similar reflect real noticeable difference material_culture sedentary world