Greg Woolf is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul (1998), as well as the co-editor of Literacy and Power in the Ancient World (1994), and Rome the Cosmopolis (2003).  In addition, Professor Woolf is editor of the Journal of Roman Studies and has written numerous articles on Roman history.

"A work of fundamental importance for students of ancient ethnography. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries." (Choice, 1 November 2011) "By contrast, Woolf has rendered the topic in crisp and elegant prose. This reviewer suspects that, like good ancient ethnography, Woolf's contribution will very soon take on a life of its own". (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 25 July 2011)

• Translations Used Introduction 1Chapter 1: Telling Tales on the Middle Ground 8Chapter 2: Explaining the Barbarians 32Chapter 3: Ethnography and Empire 59Chapter 4: Enduring Fictions? 89Notes 119References 146General Index 164Index of Main Passages Discussed 168