Herodotus's Immaginative Geography

Said claims the boundaries are “arbitrarily drawn” by delineating his abstract notion of imaginative geography which originated from nature of humanity. In concerning this imaginary space “some distinctive objects are made by the mind, and that these objects, while appearing to exist objectively, have only a fictional reality,” in exemplification “[a] group of people living on a few acres of land will set up boundaries between their land and its immediate surroundings and territory beyond, which they call the “land of the barbarians”. Therefore, creating “in one’s mind a familiar space is "ours" and an unfamiliar space beyond "ours" which is "theirs" is a way of making geographical distinctions that can be entirely arbitrary.” He continues, …show more content…
-HDT Quote?
In terms of Orientalizing in the manner of drawing lines, Said fabricates his “map” through
“Herodotus merely notes particular traits; he is not concerned with the functional, structural, or stylistic coherence of the cultures he describes” (97, Redfield).
In regarding the metaphysical, if not imaginary space which fuels the idealized Orient, created through and by the Greek, or Western philosophy, geographically speaking, the division is prevalent in Herodotus’ text, however

IV noble savage: does this legitimately apply to the eastern barbarians in Hdt? Are there other, more apposite features found among the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Libyans that undercut Said’s …show more content…
However, this stereotyping is not expressed in a completely negative manner, as Said has by his confining stage, Herodotus mos ardently holds two cultures―the Egyptians; the oldest culture QUOTE and Scythians in high esteem, in spite of “oddities” of their