The Invention of Racism in Classical AntiquityThere was racism in the ancient world, after all. This groundbreaking book refutes the common belief that the ancient Greeks and Romans harbored "ethnic and cultural," but not racial, prejudice. It does so by comprehensively tracing the intellectual origins of racism back to classical antiquity. Benjamin Isaac's systematic analysis of ancient social prejudices and stereotypes reveals that some of those represent prototypes of racism--or proto-racism--which in turn inspired the early modern authors who developed the more familiar racist ideas. He considers the literature from classical Greece to late antiquity in a quest for the various forms of the discriminatory stereotypes and social hatred that have played such an important role in recent history and continue to do so in modern society. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 66
... usually denies that there was any race hatred in the ancient world.3 The prejudices that existed , so it is believed , were ethnic or cultural , not racial . In this book I shall argue that early forms of racism , to be called proto ...
... kills off , because the task is too difficult or unpleasant , or the victims are needed for their labour , or competing feelings get in the way " ( p . viii ) . noted , it is usually considered unjustifiable to speak of 4 INTRODUCTION .
Benjamin Isaac. noted , it is usually considered unjustifiable to speak of ancient racism . None of the works on racism and ethnic prejudice which I have seen and cited assert that it precedes Columbus and European colonialism . This is ...
... usually considered to stand to one another in relations of superiority and inferiority . " Prejudice , although related to racism , is somewhat different : it has been defined as " a generalization existing prior to the situation in ...
... usually ascribed to the group . In any case , reducing the emphasis on the biological ingredient of racism makes it feasible to look for it , or something related to it , in nonwestern and earlier cultures . Philip Mason , a British ...