REPRESENTATIONS OF THE KARTVELIAN PEOPLES AS THE “OTHER” BY GREEK GEOGRAPHERS: PSEUDO-SCYLAX OF CARYANDA, PSEUDO-SCYMNOS OF CHIOS, AND DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES
Abstract
Following the Classical epoch, interest in the Caucasus in general and in the Kartvelian peoples in particular increased during the Hellenistic and subsequent periods. Together with the broadening of geographical knowledge and the development of new geographical genres — the periplus and the periegesis — a more or less adequate understanding of the Caucasian region and its inhabitants begins to take shape. At the same time, contemporary scholarship considers that narratives of foreign peoples present, more than an accurate picture of reality, the literary representation of the author. Xenostereotypes of the "Other (other peoples)" marked by varying degrees of subjectivity occupy a significant place in these representations. In many cases, these representations reflect the geopolitical and cultural context of the author's own era as well as the writer's ideological orientation.
The present paper aims to examine the representations of Kartvelian peoples in the works of three Greek authors: Pseudo-Scylax of Caryanda (4th century BCE), Pseudo-Scymnus of Chios (2nd–1st centuries BCE), and Dionysius Periegetes (2nd century CE). Beyond the significant information these authors provide concerning the geography of Georgia, our selection was motivated by the fact that the aforementioned writers are representatives of the popular geographical genres of their time — the periplus and the periegesis — and it is therefore of particular interest to examine how they develop the discourses that existed in antiquity regarding the Kartvelian peoples as the "Other," and what new narratives they introduce in this regard.
The study of the aforementioned authors' representations of the Kartvelian peoples has demonstrated that, as in the case of other foreign peoples, the geographers were engaged with the following discourses: (a) elucidating the origins of Kartvelian toponymy and linking it to mythological realities; (b) establishing the genesis of the Kartvelian peoples and their connections to other regions and peoples; (c) presenting the so-called eponymous heroes associated with the Kartvelian world. Pseudo-Scylax of Caryanda, Pseudo-Scymnus of Chios, and Dionysius Periegetes engage comparatively less with aspects of the cultural identity of the Kartvelian peoples: diaita (material culture), ēthea (ethnic characteristics), and nomoi (customs and laws). Furthermore, all of the above-listed discourses appear in these authors with varying degrees of scope and emphasis.
The linking, in these authors' works, of the genesis of the Kartvelian peoples and Kartvelian toponymy to Hellenic mythology, most notably the Argonaut cycle, as well as the narrative tracing the origins of the Kartvelian peoples to various regions of Europe, demonstrates, in our view, the extent to which the Kartvelian milieu was closely associated, in the consciousness of the aforementioned geographers, with Hellenic civilization.
The results of this research will be of considerable significance for the study of the cultural identity of the Kartvelian peoples, as the "Other", in antique representations. At the same time, they may make a meaningful contribution to the Europe/Asia opposition discourse, specifically with regard to the relationship of these peoples to Hellenic, that is to say European, civilization.
Key words: ancient geography; representation of the “Other”; Georgian peoples; Pseudo-Scylax of Caryanda; Pseudo-Scymnos of Chios; Dionysius Periegetes; Georgian peoples; ethnogenesis.
