Gripla - 20.12.2009, Síða 115

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this was the case with the ancient Greeks but I shall argue that it is a gen­
eral feature of the definition of a civilisation is that it marginalises and
often dehumanises others, the barbarians, and lumps them together in a
single image of alterity in relation to humanity proper.
This was a model that was easily transposed into the early perception
of the Christian world, based upon a myth of a single progenitor of
humanity but also on a clear demarcation between insiders and outsiders.
The Christian congregation was set apart from the rest of the world, but in
contrast to the Greek oikumene it was open to others who could enter by
way of conversion. The barbarians could – and for their own good, should
– convert to proper society. As a term for the ultimate others, the barbari­
ans remained a mirror for civilisation proper until modern times. the mir­
ror, of course, was held up by the self-professed civilisation – as first
defined in the classical world, where the North was as yet in the mists.
ultima thule: Maps and metaphors
When the far North was first brought to the attention of the classical
world of Southern Europe, it was encapsulated in the notion of Ultima
Thule. tracing thule as a concept for the ultimate north means engaging
with particular horizons, notably the boundary between known and
unknown worlds. As recently discussed by Vincent Crapanzano, people
are constantly concerned with both openness and closure in their construc­
tion of horizons that determine what we experience and how we interpret
what we experience. “When a horizon and whatever lies beyond it are
given articulate form, they freeze our view of the reality that immediately
confronts us – fatally I’d say, were it not for the fact that once the beyond
is articulated, a new horizon emerges and with it a new beyond”
(Crapanzano 2004, 2). this process of the shifting of horizons is a key
issue in the understanding of any image of the north.
Since classical times, thule marked the imaginative horizon of the
unknown North, and for some it inspired a distinct call. Among the pio­
neers was Pytheas of Massalia who in the 3rd century B.C. went further
north than any other from the classical world. Pytheas visited the British
Isles, “but the bold and hardy explorer does not seem to have stopped here.
noRtHeRn BARBARIAnS