Sui «Cari barbarofoni» di Il. II 867

Abstract

The adjective βαρβαρόφωνοι occurred for the first time in the Trojan Catalogue
(Il. II 867). This term, which is generally interpreted as «of barbarian speech», is only used to describe the Carians contingent, although in the Trojan Catalogue all the allies listed are actually barbarians. Embracing an ethnic perspective, this paper is focused on the meaning of βαρβαρόφωνοι. It is argued that the poet used a Carian self-representation tale but he filtered this account through his Greek perspective. The poet, through his Greek perspective, would have turned the original pride to speak Carian into being βαρβαρόφωνοι.