Performance, Conflict, And The Egyptian Narrative: A New Historicist Study Of Herodotus

This dissertation offers a fresh reading of Herodotus’Histories from the perspective of New Historicism. By viewing the text as an oral performance, this enquiry analyzes, on the basis of a detailed textual analysis of Herodotus’ Egyptian narrative, why Herodotus’narrative conflicts one another.Chapter One illustrates the relationship between Herodotus himself and his audience. In the context of oral performance, both the first-person direct and the first-person indirect cannot be equated to Herodotus himself, but the imitation to his audience’ideologies. By analyzing the ideological conflicts in Greek culture, this chapter re-examines the conflicts in Herodotus’narrative and argues that Herodotus’ narrative is shaped by the ideologies of his audience.Chapter Two analyzes the Egyptian customs presented in Herodotus’narrative. As the text of Histories underlines not only the differences but also the sameness between Egyptian and Greek customs, it thus turns itself into self-contradictory. Through a "thick description" of the "name", which is a custom, this chapter argues that the "name" is a meaningful cultural symbol which signifies the competing ideologies in Greek culture on how to perceive foreign people. By considering them either as barbarians or as the origin of Greek civilization, the competing ideologies contribute to the conflicts in Herodotus’narrative of Egyptian customs.Chapter Three focuses on Herodotus’ narrative of Helen in Egypt. Due to the competition between epic and lyric poetry, there are two types of ideologies in Greek culture:regarding Helen as the cause of the Trojan War or defending Helen against such blame. These competing ideologies originate the conflicting narratives in Herodotus’Histories. The debate over "ψυσιε;" and "voμo(?);", which should be the criterion of "justice", additionally contributes to Herodotus’ narrative. The contradictory narratives on Helen embody the same ideology that "voμoδ" is the criterion of "justice". Therefore, Herodotus’ narrative about Helen acts as the "arena" for multiple competing ideologies, revealing that self-contradictory narrative could exist in Histories.Based on the three aspects discussed above, this dissertation comes to the conclusion that Herodotus’ text cannot be seen only as the creation of Herodotus himself, but the cultural practice in the 5th century BC Ancient Greece. Ideology, as the fundamental aspect of a culture, shapes the formation of Herodotus’s text. The conflicts in Herodotus’text originate from the competition and struggle among different ideologies.