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Annie Valley

Analyze the different kinds of noble savages in antiquity and their distinctive
characteristics. To what degree do they differ from one another, and how are the
differences significant?

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Personal values can often be attributed to the culture we are immersed in. The
authors of our time immortalized the cultural viewpoints of the time period, however, this
is not a new conception. Even in the antiquity famous authors such as Homer, Hesiod,
and Herodotus set standards for cultural perception through their underlying subjective
views on primitivism enhanced with individual views on ethnocentricity. Primitivism is
the viewpoint that they way life was conducted in the past was more perfect, and since
then life in both the physical, and moral facets has been degraded. The decline of both the
moral, and physical world came after what Hesiod described as the golden age. The
golden age describes a time according to Hesiod when humans and the Gods were
aligned in harmony and they were closer than they had ever been before. It was a time of
spiritual purity, equality, and justice occurred naturally; humans also lived off the plants
and the fish in a vegetarian manner, and thus there was a natural synchronization between
the humans and animals. During this time humans were taller, beyond beautiful, and
effortlessly graceful.
The golden age was during the reign of Kronos, whom according to Pindar, an
Ancient Greek poet was the King of the Golden Age. When Zeus overthrew Kronos
justice had to be distributed amongst the Gods, each with their own duty, and power
unlike the age of Kronos where justice occurred according to nature or rather on its own
accord. Hesiods conception of this golden age sets the stage for the Greco-Roman
denunciation or in some cases acclaim of the denominations of people living from the
golden age and on. This deliberate and conscious act to provide judgment on these
groups of people allowed a form of a cultural revolution to take place spiraling from
popular views on ethnocentricity. Through comparing and contrasting your own culture
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with another automatically and intuitively personal values from the respective inherent
cultural environment you live in are tested. Thus a form of cultural identification takes
place. Antiquity offers numerous groups of people that fit the standard golden age
conception such as the blessed peoples, such as the Ethiopians, Hyperboreans and the
Scythian noble savages. These groups of people are immortalized in antiquity and have
since than offered insight into the culture of other races that rose amongst, and after them.
The authors view of the present is often shaped by their view of the past.
In antiquity there are two types of noble savages that stem from either the anti-
ethnocentric view or the ethnocentric view. The anti-ethnocentric view can be assimilated
with cultural relativism, which was made popular by the anthropologist Franz Boas.
Unlike the ethnocentric view, which embraces that the holders culture is superior in their
values, and differing viewpoints will always fall short to their grander values. The anti-
ethnocentric views a noble savage to be one free of greed, full of piety, and valuation. In
the case of the Greco-Roman tradition they seemed to place their cultural values above
those of others despite where those values originate. (In Herodotus Histories, Book 2, he
attributes all Greek religion stemming from the Egyptians.) Holding an ethnocentric
viewpoint provides quite a critical scope when investigating other races. Judgment upon
other races, especially negative judgment allows personal beliefs to become the right
beliefs, and those beliefs transcend into the normality of culture. When there is a
universal set of standard for a culture it is easy to divide people into different groups,
those who belong, and those who dont. Providing counterparts to your culture
strengthens your cultures self-identity, and that is exactly why analyzing the distinct
categories of noble savages is important. The noble savages didnt separate themselves
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into two categories it was the Greco-Romans, and by seeing how they categorized them
modern culture has the ability to look back and see how they would have viwed
themselves.
To clearly analyze the distinct types of categories given to the noble savages its
essential to start with the looking at the lives of those of the blessed. The Isles of the
Blessed follow some of the characteristics that Hesiod gave to those living during the
golden age. The Islands are the scared extreme they are the boundaries that provide
access to only to the heroes and the Blessed. On Marvellous Reports 84.836b makes this
point even clearer, to reach it is the achievement of heroes. In the Odyssey section 6.42-
6 Homer describes the Isles of the Blessed as the land where the, blessed gods spent
their days in pleasure. The Isles of the Blessed however became divided between the
noble blessed, and the ignoble savages like seen in the Odyssey in the land of Cyclopes.
Through reading Pomponius Melas Chorogrpahia the bias ethnocentricity starts to
appear. Pomponius Mela concludes that these people living in the Blessed Land are
ignorant of all virtues more than any other people, and are totally lacking in a sense of
duty. This description of the inhabitants doesnt portray them in the noble light, just as
mere savages. Seemingly there are different reactions within the Greek world on where to
place the value on Hesiods golden age ideals when regarding a civilization. This
culture seems to be inverted to the norm of the Greek way of doing things. Pompnius
Mela is distancing Greek culture from the ignorance of the people he describes living in
the lands of Iuverna beyond Britain.
The Hyperboreans and the Ethiopians fall under the role of noble savages because
they have the connotation of being blessed. The noble savage embraces the
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characteristics of Hesiods golden age. These two groups of people lived upon sacred
lands, and never held any negative components according to their authors retelling of
their lineage. The Hyperboreans and the Ethiopians were definitely thought of as the
perfect cultures. The Hyperboreans lived in the north, and the Ethiopians lived in the
islands of the sun. They provided an image of people who the Greeks could emulate
through their heroes. While they are not exactly realistic, and in fact the Hyperboreans
are known to be a fake race they postulate an ideal standard of people. In fact according
to Pausanias in his Description of Greece, 10.5.9, the Hyperboreans are credited with the
founding of the Oracle of Delphi, consequently the most important oracle in all of
Greece. Pausanias goes on to remark that, Non-Greek culture heroes are the most
important aspect of Greek culture. Proving the point that the identification, and
distinguishing of different types of noble savages through the literary work in antiquity
gave rise to an actualization of Greek culture, and self-awareness of that culture. For the
Greco-Roman imagination it was essential to hold onto the idea of the perfect people in,
happy lands, far, far, away. The way these blessed noble savages handled themselves in
conflict provided more moral high ground to them as well, making them once again the
perfect heroes. An example of this conflict is found in Herodotus, Histories, 3.21 when
the Ethiopians come under attack from the Cambyses. The Cambyses are portrayed to
follow the opposite of the ideal Hesiod golden age values. They eat meat, own property,
and steal. They attempt to enter the Ethiopian land and before war can even start they run
out of food, and than resort to cannibalism. The Ethiopians were on the side of the Gods,
and that is where ideally the Greeks would like to live. Homer in the Iliad even gives the
Ethiopians the name, blameless. That is the extent of which the Ethiopians and
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Hyperboreans can not give as much distinctiveness to the Greco-Roman culture as the
next group of people will but the authors created these myths in order to attempt for more
order to the Greek normality, and self-preservation and identification.
The major contrast with the Greco-Roman culture, and what it means to be a
Greek is seen in light of the Scythian people. The Scythian are considered savages, and
barbaric. Unlike the blessed noble savages of the Ethiopian and Hyperboreans the
purely noble savages are regarded more intricate. In regards to the Scythians being noble
savages the ethnocentric and anti-ethnocentric views come out quite intensely and create
a divide between what is known as the Good Scythians and the Bad Scythians. Both
versions of the Scythians come from prehistory and follow similar archetypes as the
stories of the people who lived on the Isles of the Blessed. The main difference is that the
Scythian people are considered to be realistic and thus are easily relatable to real life.
Scythian people are nomadic, without towns or permanent housing, they do not practice
agriculture, and their economy revolves around horse and sheep herding. They represent
a vast number of people, and provide the archetype for those who live around the Black
Sea, Asia, in and around Eastern Europe. Its interesting to note the location of the
Scythian people because of their location they create a nice foil for the Greek traditions.
Looking at the traditions of the noble savages of the Scythians, and interacting with their
culture gives an outlet to justify or put down Greek values. The Scythians also dwell on
the characteristics that follow from the golden age.
This close proximity to Greece resulted in the scrutiny of the Scythian way of life
making prominent two views of the Scythians. The Good and the Bad. Earlier in the
paper the two opposing views of ethnocentricity were defined in order to show the way of
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thinking going on during this period in antiquity. The different authors in antiquity had a
role in shaping the cultural values of the time. By picking either an ethnocentric view or
an anti-ethnocentric view you have to research, and through that research a personal
attachment to your values or new values is strengthened. The distinct distinguishing
features of the noble savages in antiquity especially in the case of the Scythians give
Greek culture a middle ground in terms of morality. The Good Scythians were described
by Aeschylus to be, the most righteous of men, and kindest to strangers. The anti-
ethnocentric view shows the purity and goodness in all human life, and it expresses
equality. The ethnocentric writers of the time period according to Strabo in Geography,
7.3.9 claimed the Scythians were cruel to the point of cannibalism. Yet writers like
Herodotus claim that the Scythians are secure in their noble savagery, and no
bloodthirstiness enhances their nobility. A noble savage lives in the world of contraries,
from the writers of the time there will be love, hate, acceptance and so on but that is how
the noble savage model falls from the differing views of the ethnocentric, and anti-
ethnocentric.
Through analyzing the different types of nobles savages seen in antiquity it is
apparent that even slight differences become significant. The way an author chooses to
portray a race of people, and show how they portray their views on primitivism can create
changes in social structure and awareness. The ignoble savages and the noble savages of
the Isles of the Blessed are all contained in one region. However, when the views of one
writer differ from another it provides a clear reasoning of the societal pressures, or
personal perception and bias from that particular author. The degree to which noble
savages differ in different authors perspectives can be quite enormous, and than over time
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it seems one authors viewpoint seems to take hold like Homers overall view of the
Scythians. The question of, What it means to be Greek? is given to the people by
analyzing the distinguishing characteristics of the noble savages. Self-identity, a state
identity, and a universal identity can arise through the discussion and promotion of
disagreeing and differing ideas. Norms for society can be changed, gained, and even
demolished completely. Differences in thought especially in regards to the noble savages
of antiquity provided the background for intellectual discourse from the most talented
writers and thinkers of the time period. The setting of the Hesiods description of the
Golden Age provided a backdrop to differentiating the character of the Greco-Roman
people.