The barbarian. Historical significance

To the Hellenes, anyone not speaking Greek was considered a barbarian. The term came from the word barbarous, meaning “foreign” or “unintelligible,” which was the opposite of polites, meaning “citizen.” The Greeks used the term regardless of other groups’ culture or civilization. The classical Greeks used barbaros to describe Egyptians, Persians, and Phoenicians, societies known for their cultural advancement, as well as for Thracians, Scythians, and other tribes, which had neither cities nor written records. In all of these instances, barbaros referred to groups speaking a language they could not understand, which they said sounded like “bar-bar.”

The word appears in the Iliad once to refer to something incomprehensible spoken by the Carians. Ultimately, the term was used to describe the Persians after the Persian Wars. The Greeks did not confine the term to non-Greek states or cultures, but also to other Greek states that were not as advanced politically, such as those in Epirus or Macedon. The Athenians in particular even used it to refer to Greeks of the classical region, such as those in Boeotia and Thessaly.

The non-Greek groups that the Greeks came into contact with, moving from the west to the northwest to the northeast to the east and then to the south, represented a variety of tribes and cultures. To the west were the Epirotes, who were Greeks even if the Athenians did not view them as such, perhaps because the Dorians originated from this region. The major tribe in Epirus that became important was the Molossians and their dynasty, the Aeacidae, from which came the princess Olympias, who married Philip II of Macedon.

The Macedonians viewed the Epirotes as semi-Greeks, even as the classical Greeks, especially the Athenians, viewed the Macedonians as semi-Greek as well. To the north of Epirus was Illyria, with a variety of tribes. One of the major dynasties of this region was founded in the mid-fifth century by Bardylis, born around 450 and ruling until 358.

His reign witnessed the union of many of the Illyrian tribes, and he successfully attacked and took over parts of Epirus and Macedon before being defeated and killed by Philip II in 358. He successfully developed the kingdom into a military and economic power in the region. He was able to exploit the rich silver mines, minting silver coins and promoting trade throughout the region.

Farther north and east was the region of Thrace. The various tribes there never were able to come together to form a unified tribe or nation. The Thracians inhabited most of the Balkans, including north of the Danube to the Bug River and along the Black Sea coastline extending into Asia Minor.

Thrace had been taken over by the Persians in 516, and again in 492. The most important was the Odrysian Kingdom from the fifth to first centuries, its king, Teres I, ruled from 460-445 and unified a variety of tribes. He appeared to have begun the process during the 470s after the Persians were defeated at Plataea, and then he helped oust the Persians from Thrace. His son, Sitalces, continued to enlarge the kingdom and fought the Macedonians in 429 after aligning himself with the Athenians, although he was forced to give up the fight short of victory.

In 424, he was killed fighting the Triballi, another Thracian tribe. It was during this time that the Odrysian Kingdom reached its heights, stretching from the Danube to the area just north of the Aegean coast. Although it would lose a lot of its power after the Peloponnesian War, it continued to control a reduced area until the Roman period. To the northeast of the Thracians lived the Scythians, nomads who moved across the steppes of Russia. Although they had strongholds and cities, they were known for their ability to vanish when an enemy attacked.

Across the Hellespont was Anatolia, which witnessed a variety of tribes moving in and out of the region. To the Greeks of Asia Minor, the major barbarian groups included the Phrygians and Lydians. The Phrygians were known to exist around the region of the city of Gordium during the eighth century. They had arisen after the fall of the Hittite Kingdom and may have been remnants of the “Sea Peoples,” a group mentioned by the ancient Egyptians around 1200.

They descended upon the eastern Mediterranean and are now viewed as part of a general migration that probably included the Dorians. It was during this era that the mythology of King Midas (Mita) arose. The Phrygians continued to expand and engaged in active trade with the Greeks of Asia Minor, as well as kingdoms to the east. The Cimmerians destroyed the power of the Phrygians when they sacked their capital, Gordium.

After the Mycenaean period, the Cimmerians, an Indo-European tribe, moved into a region on the southern Black Sea after being displaced by the Scythians. Although culturally similar to the Scythians, they were viewed as a distinct and different group, originating in the Pontus region to the east of the Black Sea. Around 700, the Cimmerians attacked the Neo-Assyrians and were defeated by Sargon II in 705. The remainder of the tribe moved west and took over Phrygia, and then they attacked Lydia, which defeated them, effectively ending their power.

The other major barbarian power was Lydia, which likewise developed after the collapse of the Hittite Empire. The capital was located at Sardis. The Lydians expanded their power against the Greeks of Asia Minor and became known for their creation of coinage, probably under the rule of King Alyattes and his son, Croesus. Although the Lydians were wealthy and powerful, the Greeks still considered them barbarians due to their non-Greek culture and language.

To the south of Lydia and Phrygia were the regions of Media and Persia. To the Greeks, these residents were the viewed as barbarians, especially after the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon and Plataea, even though they had “culture,” as opposed to the northern tribes. The Greeks viewed the Persians and Medians as purely eastern and subservient. The Medes arrived in the Iranian Plateau, west of the Zagros Mountains, during the late ninth century, with its capital at Ecbatana.

These people were originally vassals under the Neo-Assyrians. In the late seventh century, their king, Cyaxares, joined the Babylonians to defeat the Assyrians. The Medes then conquered the region of Armenia and fought the Lydians, making the River Halys the boundary. His son, Astyages, was defeated by Cyrus, king of Persia, who now created the Persian Kingdom. As the Persians advanced, they conquered the Babylonians, extending their power. The Greeks knew of the Babylonians and lumped them in with other Semitic peoples.

The other major group that the Greeks knew was the Phoenicians. They lived along the Levant coast, and they successfully spread throughout the Mediterranean, establishing colonies as far west as Spain. The Phoenicians were centered on independent city-states, each creating their own power and colonies. They were controlled by the Hittites during the Bronze Age, and after the Hittites’ demise in about 1200, they became independent.

They began to control the mercantile and maritime region in the Aegean, a reign that lasted for several centuries. The first major cities were Byblos and Sidon, although other cities such as Tyre and Berytus would increase in power. The Phoenicians established an alphabet that would spread to the Greek world. Tyre created the most famous colony to the west, at Carthage.

Although their seamanship was well known, the Phoenician cities came under the control of the Assyrians from about 850 to 600, followed by the Babylonians until 540 before being conquered by the Persians. The Greeks came into contact with the Phoenicians early on and developed trade relations with them, especially on Cyprus.

Farther south and west was Egypt. The Greeks knew of the Egyptians during their New Kingdom since the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. The Greeks established trading colonies in Egypt at Naucratis and supported the Egyptians in their continual struggle against their Persian masters. The Athenians would send several expeditions against the Persians in Egypt, most notably in 460; when that one failed, the Athenians pulled back from their expansion. The Egyptians, like the Lydians and Phoenicians, sent contingents for the Persian forces when they invaded Greece.

In the west, the Greeks also came into contact with barbarian tribes in Africa, Spain, France, Italy, and Sicily. These interactions existed between the Greek colonies and the local cities and tribes. In Africa, the most important barbarian group was Carthage, a city and colony established by Tyre. The city had a cordial relationship with Greek cities on Sicily until its residents came into conflict with these Greek colonies when they all tried to control the island.

The Carthaginians attempted to control Sicily and engaged in a series of wars, which ultimately led to the western part of Sicily being under Carthage and the east, especially Syracuse, under the Greeks. The Greeks on Sicily came into contact with local Sicel tribes and pushed them into the interior mountains. The Greek cities on Sicily never united; they engaged in continuous, internecine warfare with each other, the Sicilian tribes, and Carthage until ultimately being conquered by Rome.

On the Italian mainland, the Greek cities came into contact with Italian tribes and cities. In the southern part, the Greeks came into contact with several tribes, such as the Samnites, all of whom spoke the Oscan language. They were probably related to another tribe, the Sabines. The Greeks also came into contact with the Etruscans in northern Italy, who controlled the region as far south as Naples during the fifth and fourth centuries.

The Greeks would come into conflict with the Etruscans and their allies, the Carthaginians, at the naval battle of Alalia against the Phocaeans from Asia Minor, who had established a colony at Massalia in southern France. The city of Phocaea had been taken by the Persians in 546, and the residents moved to a colony at Alalia, on Corsica. Although the Phocaean fleet was victorious, it lost over half its ships. The Phocaeans now evacuated Corsica, which had been taken over by the Etruscans.

On the southern coast of France was the colony of Massalia. The Greeks here faced two major barbarian threats, the Carthaginians and the local tribes. The Massalians defeated the Carthaginians in two major battles, but they were kept out of Spain. The city also came into contact with the local Gallic tribes. Massalia was able to keep control of the region by expanding commercially by sea instead of expanding into the interior.

Throughout the Mediterranean, the Greeks came into conflict with local tribes and cultures. They classified all of these non-Greeks as barbarians, regardless of their local history and culture. This elitism would spill over into their later views of the Romans as being uncultured and inferior.