Herodotus als Vader van het oriëntalisme? Het Perzische koningshuis in de Historiën.

In contrast to his ethnographical logoi, Herodotus' depiction of Persian autocracy is often labelled as highly biased. After the appearance of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, Herodotus' approach to Persian rule was even generally considered an early example of orientalism, that is, the discourse by which colonial powers have constructed an image of ‘The East' as irrational, weak, feminine, and despotic, to function as a mirror for the enlightened, masculine, brave, and free ‘West'. In this article, I argue that to label Herodotus' depiction of Persian autocracy as a form of orientalism and to define the goals of the Histories largely in terms of legitimising Greek supremacy is to ignore important nuances and critical reflections. Instead, I propose, not, as some have done, to discard the concept of orientalism altogether, but rather to see the orientalising elements in the images of Persian autocracy as a narrative device, aimed to arrive at a better understanding of ‘why the Greeks and barbarians came into conflict with each other', which, in Herodotus' account, is connected with the ‘law', so amply illustrated in the Histories, which dictates that too much fortune ultimately leads to failure, crisis, and even the downfall of an empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]