When you think of the word “barbarian,” perhaps you conjure an image of an intimidating warrior, dressed in animal skins and wielding an axe, ready to burn and pillage some unsuspecting civilized town.
The term “barbarian” is an etymologically interesting one, with origins in the ancient Greek “barbaros.” This term denoted someone who did not speak Greek, as the Greeks thought foreigners merely made stammering sounds to the effect of “bar-bar-bar.”
As a marker of identification, it was pejoratively used not only to characterize non-Greeks but also those who some Greeks considered “not Greek enough.” One notable example was the peoples of Macedonia, the northern region where Alexander the Great was born.
Of course, calling Alexander and his people “barbarians” did not stop the brilliant young general from conquering all of Greece and then much of the Persian Empire in less than twenty years, spreading a form of Greek culture called Hellenism and leaving a cultural legacy that would last centuries.
Whether or not Alexander was a “true” Greek, his contributions to Greek culture are indisputable. This example demonstrates the related and problematic concept of xenophobia.
In the past few weeks, issues of xenophobia have come to a head in Europe, which is currently facing an unprecedented migration crisis.
On Aug. 21, the Republic of Macedonia closed its border crossing with Greece, citing its inability to deal with an influx of thousands of migrants, many fleeing conflicts in the Middle East like the Syrian Civil War. After Europe was shocked by a crackdown involving heavily armed police facing down unarmed migrants and their crying, the border crossing reopened two days later.
Just last week, the bodies of 71 migrants were discovered in an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway near Vienna, just as European leaders were preparing to meet to discuss a unified response to the crisis. These deaths are only a handful of the thousands of migrant deaths so far this year.
