20世紀80年代以來,西方古典學界逐漸形成了將泰西阿斯的《波斯志》視為古希臘史學中東方主義思想源頭的學術觀點。通過對《波斯志》現存殘篇的分析和對古希臘散文體波斯志體裁源流的梳理,筆者認為,泰西阿斯對東方世界的總體評價是褒貶結合、理性客觀的;《波斯志》獨特的歷史敘述模式并非來自于東方主義史觀,而是古希臘詩體文學與希羅多德史學傳統在散文體波斯志中的共同延續。泰西阿斯的《波斯志》一方面包含大量十分鮮明的文學要素,另一方面又構成了古希臘波斯史敘述模式發展歷程中的一個重要環節。

From 1980 s on, the western classicists gradually formed an academic view, which leads them to recognize Ctesias’ Persica as the origin of Orientalism in ancient Greek historiography. Based on an analysis on the extant fragments of Persica and a retrospect of the development of the ancient Greek Persica as a literary genre, the author believes that the overall evaluation of Ctesias towards the oriental world is moderate, rational and objective. The unique historical narrative of Persica does not come from Orientalism; instead, it is the continuation of the literary tradition of ancient Greek poetry as well as Herodotus’ historical model. On the one hand, Ctesias’ Persica contains quite a lot of significant literature elements; on the other hand, it also marks an important phase in the development of the ancient Greek accounts of the Persian history.