On the Idea of "Cultural Enemies".

As I opened up the computer to write a post this morning, I found myself re-reading my Christmas post.  Which led me to consider why it is that, despite the fact that the Persian and Greek worlds were so deeply interconnected, that they continue to be presented as if they were always mortal enemies.  Yes, there was the fact of the Persian Wars.  But most of our material about Greek and Persian interactions comes from the Greek perspectives on these wars.  What about the Persian perspective?  What about those interactions before the wars?  We don't have much material from the Persian side because it was at this time that Persians began writing on leather scrolls, which while more efficient, did not stand the test of time.  Despite this, there is plenty of evidence, some written and some archaeological, of pre and post-war interactions that break down the notion that Greeks and Persians were "natural" or "cultural enemies".

Of course, one of the great gifts a history teacher gives their students is the ability to analyze multiple perspectives, accompanied by the habit of mind that, over time, intuitively knows to search out other perspectives and to contextualize them.  Another gift regarding perspective that history teachers give is helping students analyze how perspective changes over time.  The side of the Greek/Persian relationship that is often left out is their changing perspectives of each other.

Before their was conflict there was collaboration: Regarding this, here are a handful of fun facts from Walter Burkert's Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis:

- In the decades prior to the Persian wars, Darius, the great Persian emperor, hired many Greek artisans to bring Greek style architecture to the capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis.
- In these same years, Greek pottery became somewhat trendy in Persia, as did the drinking of wine.
- Greeks coveted the coinage issued by Darius, which had his image on it.
- Greeks aided the Persians in Anatolia on a number of major building projects, including building an efficient transportation system: creating roads, digging tunnels, but most remarkably, in building a bridge across the Bosporus.  In other words, Greek builders agreed to help Darius build a bridge linking Asia and Europe.

As a teacher, or if you were a teacher, how would you use such facts?  At the very least I would want to present these to students, and ask questions such as: "Based on this evidence, what do you think the relationship between Greece and Persia was?"  (Of course, they will say friendly!  And then I would say...)  "Okay, so they seem to trust each other.  What piece of evidence proves this the most?"  (They would likely point out the transportation system, and I would then ask them more questions about why that shows us a deep level of trust.)  "If they trust each other now, does that mean they'll always trust each other?  Ah, I see you don't think so.  What sorts of things might happen between the Greeks and the Persians to cause them not to trust each other?"    

As they give their answers, I would want to show them an image of the Greek colonies, and another image of the Persian empires expansion into Anatolia, and ask them if they might see a reason for conflict.  (I.e., the fact that the Persian Empire took over the Greek colonies in western Anatolia.)  Following this, I would remind students that the Greeks and Persians did lucrative trade together: would it be worth it to go to war once those Ionians (the Greeks living on the Anatolian coast) rebelled?  Why or why not?

Examining how Greek and Persian collaboration morphed into conflict could be an opportunity to help students understand that conflict is not pre-ordained: all peace and all pain is historically rooted.  As history teachers, we can help students understand that it is never the case that certain groups just don't like each other.  Skills such as historical contextualization and the analysis of perspectives can help combat prejudice and other forms of harmful thinking in todays world. 

Finally, as always, I'm curious to know: how would you teach this?