希罗多德与雅典“史前史”的书写

Herodotus and the Writing of the Prehistory of Athens

希罗多德书写的雅典"史前史"既是对希腊人历史起源的追溯,也是其"蛮族"书写的一部分。然而,对文本的阐释不应止步于"史料"式的阅读方式,仅仅依据文本"说了什么"来判断希罗多德对雅典的态度和立场,并据此推断《历史》的叙事目的。一个新的研究视角是采用文学批评的方法,考察文本是"如何说的",通过剖析文本的叙事手法和修辞策略,或许更有助于揭示希罗多德精心隐藏于文本背后的真正意图。希罗多德分别运用了人称转换、一词多义、反讽等修辞手法,将"文明的蛮族"埃及人、"野蛮的蛮族"皮拉斯基人;以及"曾经的蛮族"伊奥尼亚人三个看似片段性的文本叙事,构建成与"地生神话"政治宣传截然不同的历史知识,超越于雅典城邦政治之上。希罗多德的雅典"史前史"对希腊人与蛮族关系的叩问是反思整部《历史》叙事主旨的切入点。

The Herodotean narrative on the prehistory of Athens is not only the historical writing concerning the Greek ethnic origin,but also the ethnographic writing on barbarians.However,the interpretation of the texts should not be limited to the historical approach,which based on’what the texts say’to judge Herodotus’attitudes toward Athens,and then to explain the narrative purpose of Histories.Instead,a new approach is to use the method of literary criticism to examine’how the texts say’.By analysing the narrative techniques and rhetorical strategies of the texts,it may be more helpful to reveal the true intention which was carefully hidden by Herodotus behind the texts.Respectively,Herodotus employs the change of persona,polysemy,irony,and other rhetorical techniques to explore the histories of’civilised barbarian’Egyptians,the Pelasgians of the’barbaric barbarians’,and the’former barbarian’Ionians.The seemingly fragmented texts are shaped into a historical knowledge of the prehistory of Athens that is completely different from the political propaganda of the autochthony myth,and thus transcends the city-state politics.In his prehistory of Athens,Herodotus questions the binary opposition between the Greeks and the barbarians,which provides clues to understand the narrative purpose of the entire Histories.