Tales of the Barbarians traces the creation of new mythologies in the wake of Roman expansion westward to the Atlantic, and offers the first application of modern ethnographic theory to ancient material.Investigates the connections between empire and knowledge at the turn of the millennia, and the creation of new histories in the Roman WestExplores how ancient geography, local histories and the stories of wandering heroes were woven together by Greek scholars and local expertsOffers a fresh perspective by examining  passages from ancient writers in a new light

Greg Woolf is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author ofBecoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul (1998)  andRome: An Empires Story (2012) as well as the co-editor ofLiteracy and Power in the Ancient World (with A. K. Bowman, 1994),Rome the Cosmopolis (with C. Edwards, 2003) andAncient Libraries (with J.König, 2013).

Translations Used vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Telling Tales on the Middle Ground 8

Chapter 2: Explaining the Barbarians 32

Chapter 3: Ethnography and Empire 59

Chapter 4: Enduring Fictions? 89

Notes 119

References 146

General Index 164

Index of Main Passages Discussed 168