From Tragedy to Expedition: Constructing the Other and Civilizational Identity in Ancient Greek Writers

Abstract

This study employs a cross-generic analytical approach to investigate the differential strategies of Othering and the mechanisms of
civilizational identity formation in ancient Greek literary discourse, with a focus on tragic theater and expeditionary narratives. The findings
reveal that Aeschylus, through the theatrical-acoustic apparatus in The Persians, constructed a perceptible civilizational hierarchy by contrasting Greek prosody with the sonic Othering of barbarian languages via noisification. Such embodied strategies specific to tragic genre were
deconstructed in Herodotus historiographical writing, transforming into a spatio-geographic typology of civilizations. In Xenophons Anabasis, the temporal narrative of military campaigns and the corporeal inscription of soldiers trauma engendered dynamic mobile boundaries
Hellenicity simultaneously asserts itself while dissolving absolute distinctions through sustained contact with Persian and barbarian cultures.
This tripartite framework unveils the primordial dialectical structure underlying Western identity discourse production, demonstrating how
textual practices negotiate self-definition through iterative differentiation and boundary permeability.