Barbarian Law: A Brief History

Episode 1 - Barbarian Law

Barbarian Etymology:

The term originates from the Greek: βάρβαρος (barbaros). In Ancient Greece, the Greeks used the term not only towards those who did not speak Greek and follow classical Greek customs. According to Greek writers, this was because the language they spoke sounded to Greeks like gibberish represented by the sounds "bar..bar”. Plato rejected the Greek–barbarian dichotomy as a logical absurdity on just such grounds: dividing the world into Greeks and non-Greeks told one nothing about the second group. In general, the concept of barbaros did not figure largely in archaic literature before the 5th century BC, during the Greco-Persian Wars.

Barbarian Definition (Dictionary.com):

Barbarian - [ bahr-bair-ee-uhn ] - noun

• a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.

• a person without culture, refinement, or education; philistine.

• (loosely) a foreigner.

• In ancient and medieval periods:

  -a non-Greek.

  -a person living outside, especially north of, the Roman Empire.

  -a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization.

The issue I have with the above definitions is that they are Eurocentric. A theme from the story that Plato told us in regards to the “East vs West” divide, is that political antagonism is a natural fact, but there are no natural foundations for hierarchical distinction between races or cultures. That is why I want to repatriate the meaning of the word.