Persian women in Greek imagination: the representation of otherness in Herodotus histories

• Grant number: 21/07157-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: November 19, 2021
• End date: May 18, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Paulo Abreu Funari
• Grantee: Amabile Helena Zanco
• Supervisor: Airton Brazil Pollini Junior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université de Strasbourg, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/21963-8 - Persian women in the Greek imaginary: the representation of otherness in Herodotus' Histories, BP.MS

Abstract

Since ancient times, the East and its peoples have been objects of the western eye, which we can observe in many sources that try to describe and analyze this neighboring region, producing otherness speeches that marked its difference, as is the case of Herodotus Histories, fifth century work that guides our research. We can observe in Greek rhetoric a otherness speech that sets a polarity between the Greeks and those called barbarians, especially the Persians, whose habits and traditions were defined as a group of moral, cultural, social and political characteristics that were opposed or inferior to the Greek ones, especially after the Greco-Persian Wars in the beginning of the fifth century. The representation of women was part of this practice, assisting Greek self-definition activity, in which they were presented as cruel, futile, controlling and conspirators, but also as economic, political, religious and cultural agents, individuals with cunning, intelligence and moderation, that intervene in the 'world of men'. The analysis of those women through the Histories and the iconographic representations allow us to reflect about Greek male ideas relating to women in their society, the behavior expected, the spaces occupied, and also actions that divert from the established norms. (AU)