Under the sign of the Great King: Ancient and modern visions about the barbarization of Alexander the Great

• Grant number: 14/01462-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Paulo Abreu Funari
• Grantee: Thiago Do Amaral Biazotto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to study how part of the Ancient writings and the modern historiography and cinema dealt with an unusual theme in the works that narrate the life of Alexander the Great : his barbarization, in other words, the adoption of formalities of the Persian monarchy. Aware of the size of this subject, it is chosen to focus the analysis in attitudes of Alexander when he sits on the throne of Cyrus, uses the Persian dress and receives the proskynese, incorporate foreign fighters into his troops and marry with the princess Roxane , because they are the ones that caused most revulsion to the Macedonian veterans , whose reactions to this so called barbarization will be analyzed as well. Using the writings of the Greek biographer Plutarch, the historiography of J. G. Droysen and P. Jouguet and the movie "Alexander", by O. Stone, is expected to understand how this issue has been studied in different social and political contexts. Another objective is to attempt to conceptualize the term barbarian in different temporalities , using the studies that address the relationship between identity and otherness. Finally, we propose the following question to be investigated: it is plausible to claim that the chosen sources have a guideline? If so, perhaps one can verify that these sources associated with the cultural other, to that human group to which we dissociate ourselves, acts of violence, lust , in short , barbaric acts . Thus, we intend to study the representations of a barbarized Alexander while discuss concepts such as otherness, identities and uses of the past

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BIAZOTTO, Thiago Do Amaral. Under the sign of the Great King: Alexander the Great's barbarisation in the writings of Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius, Plutarch and Arrian. 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas Campinas, SP.