Black doves speak

"In Greek thought barbaroi are utterers of unintelligible or inarticulate sounds. What importance does the text of Herodotus's Histories attribute to language as a criterion of ethnic identity? The answer to this question illuminates the empirical foundations of Herodotus's pluralistic worldview." "The first translator of cultures also translates describes and evaluates foreign speech to a degree unparalleled by other Greek ancient authors. For Herodotus, language is an area of interesting but surprisingly unproblematic difference which he offers to his audience as a model for coming to terms in a neutral way with other, more emotionally charged, cultural differences."--Jacket.