Stereotype and Generalization in Herodotus and the Temple of Athena Nike: The Creation of the Eastern Other

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a larger and more general context for the formation of Athenian/Panhellenic identity and its attitude towards and construction of Persian/barbarian identity during the fifth century BCE by employing Herodotus as a lens to examine the south frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike. Like Herodotus, this frieze offers an organized representation of not only Persian/barbarian identity but also of Athenian/Panhellenic identity during the period immediately following the Persian Wars. While Herodotus has been employed in past scholarship to read a very specific battle scene from the Persian Wars on the south frieze, this analysis will use Herodotus to understand the general character and spirit of what I argue is a more symbolic battle between Greeks and Easterners. This symbolic battle represents a scene of West versus East, and it is my goal to use Herodotus to suggest some of the particular stereotypes and generalizations with which such a confrontation could be described and understood.