The question of the foreigner is one that permeates ancient Greek literature just as it plagues us today – in terms of global politics and economics (what shall we do about immigration?) and also as questions of identity (who are we and do we still belong here?). Shivaike Shah speaks with Carol Dougherty, Professor of Classical Studies at Wellesley College, about foreignness in classical texts. Works like Homer’s Odyssey and Aeschylus’s Suppliants reveal ancient Greek cultures that were just as complicated, self-questioning, diverse and unsure about themselves as we are today. Both texts are the product of momentous overseas encounters and precipitous cultural change, whether that be the archaic colonization movement in the 8th-6th centuries BCE or the development of the Athenian naval empire in the 5th century BCE. And yet these texts also provide their audiences – and us – with a mechanism for engaging with difference, for making ourselves at home once again in a new world.

To find out more about this topic, check out the reading list on our website: https://www.khameleonproductions.org/question-of-the-foreigner