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- Title
Cultural antitheses: reflections of Herodotus 2.35-36[a].
- Authors
West, Stephanie
- Abstract
By way of prologue to his account of Egyptian manners and customs Herodotus offers a striking catalogue of cultural antitheses (2.35f.) which (though somewhat inconsistent with his general presentation of Egypt) has enjoyed an interesting Nachleben. This form of antithetical description presupposes recognition of a society basically commensurable with the writer's own, where similar conventions and principles of organization can be discerned. Herodotus' catalogue appears to have served as a model for a collection of 609 paired observations contrasting European and Japanese practices, compiled by the Jesuit Luis Frois (1532-97) and published in 1955 by J.F.Schutte, S.J. The purpose of this not easily classifiable booklet is unclear, but emulation of Herodotus would provide an adequate motive for what might have started as a jeu d'esprit, and certain details strongly suggest a direct debt.
- Subjects
EGYPT; HERODOTUS, ca. 484 B.C.-425 B.C.; EGYPTIANS in literature; GREEK prose literature; CROSS-cultural differences; FROIS, Luis; EGYPTIAN history to 332 B.C.; MANNERS &; customs
- Publication
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 1998, Vol 5, Issue 1, p3
- ISSN
1073-0508
- Publication type
Literary Criticism
- DOI
10.1007/BF02701309