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The very title of this book is intriguing indeed. In more recent times, including the present, the term barbarian has become hardly complimentary. Initially the Greek word for peoples who did not speak Greek, barbarian came into vogue when the Romans came into contact with the Greeks; and it was then applied to groups beyond their empire in Europe and Asia who were considered savage and uncivilized.
This volume opens with a long list of attractive illustrations, color plates, and maps, but they are not explained or interpreted. With its prodigious research that draws upon sources in many languages, The Barbarians might prove challenging at times for the general reader; even specialists might find some of it daunting.
In the first chapter, Larissa Bonfante states that the subtitle of the book refers to two kinds of archeology: the classical, “antiquarian” type, which deals with “manners and customs and beliefs” (p. 1), and the “technology, trade” type, which “defines cultures as the product of an interaction between society and environment” (p. 2). Bonfante asks, “Can we reconcile archeological discoveries with statements and narratives of literary sources that represent ancient perceptions of the non-classical peoples of antiquity?” (p. 2). Another question is: “What kinds of histories can be written about peoples with no written historical traditions of their own?” (p. 2).
In chapter 2, Paul T. Keyser explains how other geographical areas were viewed by the Ancient Greeks.1 Keyser discusses how successive