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In The Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus relates an account of a conflict between (Greek) Athenians and a group identified as “Pelasgians.” The story encodes ideas of racial/cultural difference, expulsion, miscegenation, mass murder, and, especially, racial (genetic) dominance that are still relevant today.
The story is related in Book Six, §§6.137–6.140. At some unknown date prior to Herodotus’ time, but still remembered, the Athenians expelled the Pelasgians from Attica, Read more …
The Four Elements of National Identity in Herodotus
The Western Classical notion of identity comes to us from Herodotus’ Histories, written in the 5th century B.C. It’s from Herodotus that we have the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, told in the broader context of the entire Hellenic world’s successful resistance of the Persian invasion. In order to do that, the Spartans (Dorians) and Athenians (Ionians) had to overcome their differences and join together to defend what was common to both of them as Greeks. Read more …