Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity

Benjamin Isaac is Lessing Professor of Ancient History at the University of Tel Aviv. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the author of "The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East".

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004 "This is a big book on an important subject."--Choice "The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity pores over substantial textual evidence to confirm that both the ancient Greeks and Romans possessed nationalistic tendencies... Isaac's book is seriously academic and will long remain an essential standard tool for debate."--Sean Kingsley, Times Higher Education Supplement "[An] important book... [A]nyone concerned with racism, and more generally with the moral complexity of our civilization, will be profoundly educated by Isaac's magisterial and ethically lucid study."--Paula Fredriksen, The New Republic "The author's magisterial and comprehensive command of the sources and the modern academic literature lends his thesis authority. He thoughtfully summarizes his arguments and conclusions from time to time. His line of thought is clear and his language is straightforward."--Ralph Amelan, The Jerusalem Post "The principal aim of this massive, heavily documented study ... is to establish that racism, like so many other articles of European mental furniture, was first given shape and substance by the fifth-century Greeks... [Benjamin] Isaac's accessible, ground-breaking study is a timely and important work."--Margaret H. Williams, Journal of Jewish Studies "This is a hugely learned and provocative book... Benjamin Isaac is a classical scholar, and his experience of twentieth-century anti-Semitism has both made him uniquely alive to his topic, and led him to look for the 'roots' of one particular type of racism in classical antiquity."--Christopher Jones, Scripta Classica Israelica "This is the first serious scholarly work to confront the problem of race and racism in Greco-Roman antiquity... [Benjamin] Issac has deflated once and for all any easy suppositions about the modern origins of one of humankind's bitterest legacies."--Brent D. Shaw, Journal of World History "The 563 pages of this book represent an academic tour-de-force, showing vast knowledge of ancient sources from Herodotus to late antiquity, and an equally impressive mastery of early modern scholarship from the sixteenth century onwards, drawing out many links between ancient and modern thinking."--David Noy, Journal of the Classical Association of Canada "The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity is a compelling work that has been written with so much clarity, precision and erudition that it is almost impossible not to accept the author's views. It is also one of those books that will definitely change the way we look at the ancient world, a world that invented not only 'logos', democracy and philosophy, but also the art of using pseudo-scientific arguments in order to justify the worst ways of dealing with other men. Last but not least, Isaac establishes that considering racial discrimination in its earliest forms is a good way of gaining 'a better understanding of their contemporary forms,' since such prejudices continue to be at the root of most hatreds (and most wars) that are devastating today's world. For these reasons, this book is essential for anyone interested in the topic of racism."--Christian Delacampagne, Patterns of Prejudice

• ILLUSTRATIONS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii INTRODUCTION 1 PART 1: STEREOTYPES AND PROTO-RACISM: CRITERIA FOR DIFFERENTIATION 53 CHAPTER 1 Superior and Inferior Peoples 55 CHAPTER 2 Conquest and Imperialism 169 CHAPTER 3 Fears and Suppression 225 Conclusions to Part 1, Chapters 2 and 3 248 PART 2: GREEK AND ROMAN ATTITUDES TOWARDS SPECIFIC GROUPS-GREEK AND ROMAN IMPERIALISM 253 INTRODUCTION TO PART 2 255 CHAPTER 4 Greeks and the East 257 CHAPTER 5 Roman Imperialism and the Conquest of the East 304 CHAPTER 6 Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Syrians 324 CHAPTER 7 Egyptians 352 CHAPTER 8 Parthia/Persia 371 CHAPTER 9 Roman Views of Greeks 381 CHAPTER 10 Mountaineers and Plainsmen 406 CHAPTER 11 Gauls 411 CHAPTER 12 Germans 427 CHAPTER 13 Jews 440 Conclusions to Part 2 492 END CONCLUSIONS 501 Ethnic Prejudice, Proto-Racism and Imperialism in Antiquity 503 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 517 INDEX OF SOURCES 541 GENERAL INDEX 553