The conception of the Other has long been a problem for philosophers. Emmanuel Levinas, best known for his attention to the issue argued that the voyages of Odysseus represent the very nature of Western philosophy : "His adventure in the world is nothing but a return to his native land, a complacenc[...]

Herodotus' great work is not only an account of the momentous historical conflict between the Greeks and the Persians but also the earliest sustained exploration in the West of the problem of cultural difference. Francois Hartog asks fundamental questions about how Herodotus represented this differe[...]