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Racism in Greco-Roman Philosophy

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Racism in Greco-Roman Philosophy

Race discourses of the present times appear to reach a consensus that prejudice ascends in

modern times and has no place in ancient history. This develops from a lack of attestation that

racial hatred thrived in the past or because conventional wisdom misleads the need to evaluate

the concept critically. However, it is conceivable that racism has existed in ancient history in

aspects that deviate from the conformist systems of the present day. Prototypes of racism

prevalent in Greek and Roman thinking advance more pertinent arguments on racism and how it

diverges from the common belief of existing in modern history. Understanding the magnitude of

ancient day biases suggests the need to engrave more crucial happenings of the ancient world

and the consequences underscored within the societies. A refutable belief is that the Greeks and

Romans harbored ethnic and cultural differences, even though the differences ideally epitomized

racial prejudice, concepts that have emerged to form the basis of modern-day racist ideas.

Racism in this regard refers to a rationalized and systematically justified form of partiality, a

reference point to the Greek intellectual process. While modern-day racism concepts have

developed to scrutinize more pertinent elements of prejudice, concepts in Greek and Roman

thinking have deeply formed the basis of address in the Enlightenment era. Their combinations

have shaped consecutive authorship in this particular domain. This study keenly evaluates

prototypes of racism in Greek and Roman histories and attributes these archetypes to ancient

ideas on slavery.

The paper will extensively evaluate ancient literary sources to articulate whether racism

was a concept known in the ancient Greco-Roman philosophy. The first section will focus on the

origin of Greco-Roman philosophy, including the first schools proposed by now notable

philosophers. It will also explain the differences between ancient and modern perceptions of

racial stereotypes. The second section will elucidate the historiographic legacy associated with
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racism or lack thereof in the ancient Greco-Roman world. It will focus on the few authors who

presupposed the absence of racism in the ancient world. The third part covers the concepts 'race'

and ‘antiquity.’Various definitions will be included, and appropriate examples that imply some

forms of racist’s attitudes. The fourth section will cover the concepts shared in antiquity that,

when combined, showcase forms of proto-racism, including environmental determinism,

inheritance of acquired characteristics, a combination of the two notions, the constitution and

form of government, as well as autochthony and pure lineage. The last section will highlight the

modern effects of racism in Greco-Roman philosophy.

Greco-Roman Philosophy

Among other notable contributions of the ancient Greeks and Roman were contributions

to religion and philosophy, where basic knowledge acquisition, understanding of the nature of

truth, and morality was essential. Indeed, it is widely known that the word philosophy originates

from Greek, combining the words 'philia' and 'Sophia' to mean 'to love' and 'wisdom,'

respectively. In this development, the Greco-Roman philosophy aimed at achieving unbiased

outcomes anchored on objective inquiry. This is often regarded as the initial attempts of human

beings to ask and provide rational explanations of the workings of the world, drifting from the

conventional use of mythological content such as legend and stories in explaining world

phenomena. Notable philosophers in this quest were the Milesian School. They strived to explain

how nature was made by concentration on elements that constituted matter, followed by the

Socratic thought that stemmed from the teachings of the Athenian philosopher Socrates. He

instituted a focus on social, ethical, and political theories within the already-thriving philosophy,

which was a great point of reference for thinkers in the Roman Empire and through modern

philosophy.
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Herodotus notes that the Greeks were united by blood, speech, religious rituals, and

similar lifestyle. One commonality is their shared religiosities and way of life that transcended

racial prejudice to join persons in what may be termed as more than blood relationships.

Similarly, the Romans anchored their citizenship on the principles of acceptance and

generalization; its fraternity would encompass the Asians, Europeans, and Africans. However,

while Greeks and Romans upheld the laudable essence of racial diversity, they must not be

confused with having not advanced tangible cruces of cultural values and attitudes.

A modern stereotype identifies the Greeks and Romans with the qualities of a hoplite/

philosopher or an emperor, restricting the reality of Greco-Roman history and the happenings of

the time. Modern media has partially explored the legacies of history, pervading the possibilities

of racism, especially for the slave societies that came from all over the world to join the Greco-

Roman world. This whitewashed imaging deters the possibility of crucially examining racialism,

especially in a loosely discoursed domain, where evidential facts are scarce or completely

missing. This phenomenon explains why modern history would quickly identify with racial

sentiments in the Americas and lightly connect the possibilities of the same in a racially diverse

labeled society of the past. It is possible to say that Greeks and Romans displayed an aversion

toward the black people, given that a society's prevailing attitudes may not necessarily align with

the interest of its occupants. Still, a society with a considerable number of members subscribing

to a specific ethnic background does not guarantee the lack of prejudice directed at the members

of a specific ethnicity. In fact, societies with even more enormous proportions of black members

could sustain egregious anti-black sentiments. Even though the population of the blacks in the

Greco-Roman world may be described as infrequent, the civilizations often more than not

demonstrated racist views.

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Historiographic Legacy

Historiographic views on the existence of racism in Greco-Roman history are scant and

hold limited evidence on the true demonstration of prejudice. However, authors in more

conflicting approaches suggest the superficially lying sentiments of racial bias in a more

critically examined context, even though others hold that the approach is dangerously

anachronistic. Three schools are used to evaluate the validity of Historiographic legacy; the

Visual Survey School, the colorblind school, and the Adjustment school. The Visual Survey

School arose in the early twentieth century to portray what could have been the prejudices of the

era. The prejudices were mainly attached to visual evidence and prevalent racial assumptions that

were racial realities for the societies through the lens of a contemporary philosopher. Beardsley

(1929) writes that the Negro was represented with utmost fidelity in an era that was anodized by

the charm of art. She evaluates the meaning of visual art and the representations of black people

in the media of sculpture and paintings. However, Beardsley’s work displays some racial bias,

especially when she wrote that Memnon (son of Eos), associated with Ethiopia, must be white

since he possessed great beauty. This statement posits that beauty was only associated with the

white color. She furthers this ideology by assuming that a black person’s place cannot be that of

a ruler. In evaluating Roman textual sources, Beardsley takes a broad approach of suggesting that

the reason for which there were many black people in the Roman Empire than in Greek is that

they acted as enslaved people, an approach still resonant in modern times. Beardsley built on the

visual survey school of historiography through art and exploration of available literary sources.

The colorblind school, which followed the visual survey school, alluded to the absence of

"color prejudice" in antiquity. Snowden identified the absence of textual sources on ‘blacks.’

Unlike the first school, which was based on visual proof, the colorblind school focused on
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textual and literary sources such as “modern science” and the times she lived in to categorize

black people. According to Snowden, the lack of literary sources presented a chance for

scientific inquiry and also evaluation of modern racial attitudes. On the other hand, the

Adjustment school furthered the claim that racism was not a reality in the ancient world by

criticizing the concept of racial evaluation. Ideally, while the evaluations pose as not substantive

to directly imply the existence of racist sentiments in the ancient world, notable clues arise

within the analysis to sufficiently denote prototypes of racism.

Race and Antiquity

It is essential to qualify the definitions of specific terms that will recur in this study for

the need to maintain uniformity in meanings and distinguish the inherent differences that may

exist between ancient and modern usage. 'Race' refers to a person's genetic ancestry explained by

their physical uniqueness. One of them is skin color, a phenomenon that may extend within

specific geographical bounds but is not necessarily confined to these origins. As a result of race,

racial divisions arise to differentiate between categories of people as designed. For instance, it

was designed that skin color and hair characteristics distinguished between 'black 'and 'white'

people. Borrowing from this definition of race, racism points to discrimination based on a

person's belonging to a particular race. In addition, according to Michael Banton, a British

Sociologist, Racism is the ideology that a person’s behavior is shaped by stably hereditary

features obtained from distinct racial stocks with unique features and generally deemed to stand

in relation to superiority and inferiority (Isaac, 2006). Similarly, the term "prejudice" is

frequently associated with racism. However, it also refers to an overgeneralization oriented

towards specific people or groups that are embraced and upheld as a guide to action despite

disparities with actual evidence. An important notion to note here is that prejudice projected on a
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person does not necessarily need to be monumental but can take simplistic forms of superiority

or mocking one group by another. This prejudice can also be projected to a target group with the

intent to mock their behaviors and attitudes, thus demining the autonomy and free existence in

the said domain. The domineering group may dissociate with the target group stating issues of

negative influence.

Racism can be depicted conspicuously or subtly. There are instances when racism and

prejudice can be insinuated in seemingly harmless words or phrases. Snowden’s attempt to

correct the problems arising from a lack of enough information on the Ethiopians led her to

discover the archaeological records which portrayed the Greek and Roman awareness of the

“Negroid type” (Samuels, 2013). Several words used by the Greeks to refer to Ethiopians’

blackness include people with a ‘night-colored’ complexion. Such phrases had some sense of

anachronism whereby all blacks were referred to as Ethiopians. However, the Greeks identified

different pigmentations among the Ethiopians and thus classified them into three subtypes: pure

Negro, Nilotic/Hamitic/Nilo-Hamitic, and mixed types.

At the same time, Snowden showcases the racism or lack thereof in the Greco-Roman

world by using the BCE poem by Asclepiades, in which Asclepiades (a white man) is struck by

Didyme's (black woman) beauty. The poet asks the reader what matters if the character is a black

woman (Cox, 2018). She is still beautiful. Regardless of showing acceptance of the black

woman's beauty, this statement communicates the understated possibility of the definition of

beauty. The unaccepting view of the societal expectations of beauty shows some form of racial

disparity that divides beauty between black and white people. Similarly, the poet predisposes the

concept that he has fallen in love with Didyme, despite her blackness. Snowden supports his

claim further by using Menander's Poem, in which the poet attributes nobility to all people
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regardless of racial differences. However, the underlying implication of the statement is that

although one is black, he could be good. The proposition that black people are seldom good

showcases some subtle racial prejudice against black people. The two examples illustrate racist

attitudes toward black people, particularly in terms of their beauty and character.

Snowden's attempt to gather literary sources demonstrating an absence of racism in the

Greco-Roman world shows a one-sided opinion, consequently overlooking critical implications.

Presenting evidence that white authors found some positive attributes in the black people

highlights the negative perception of "Ethiopians.” For instance, Snowden uses Herodotus'

writings to refer to Ethiopians as "the most handsome people.” However, despite the evident

racial acceptance, the original document does not show conviction but rather something others

say (Cox, 32). At the same time, Ethiopian queen Candace who responds to a letter sent by

Alexander the great requests the latter not to dislike Ethiopians for their color. This statement

presupposes the apparent hatred the writer knew and the reader could comprehend (Cox, 2018,

34). The aforementioned examples show the Greek’s attitude toward black people’s charm and

attractiveness.

While it is obvious that persons living after the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave

Trade often related instances of racism with the happenings of the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow

Laws, and Slavery, in the Greco-Roman world, groups were not analogous to segregate groups

or law codes that upheld legalized seclusion. Still, ancient forms of slavery were not uniquely

designed for the ‘blacks’ as they would appear in modern history. However, it is essential to note

that the lack of extremist forms of racist violence cannot warrant the absolute excuse of racist

phenomena in Greco-Roman history (Cox, 2018). The subsequent pertinent terms regarding race

were 'black' and ‘white.' In the present state, the terms have developed to be more complicated
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than ever before owing to the legacies postulated from slavery and discrimination. The 'blacks'

can trace ancestry from people native to Africa with dark skin and curly hair as the most

noticeable physical traits. This reference has long been the association most authors alluded to

when capturing the 'Ethiopians,' a generalized category for persons whose features would be

designated as black. It is important to note that the word 'Ethiopians' did not exactly correspond

to the appearances of the modern-day Ethiopian. 'White,' on the other hand, is a recent reference

to ancestry native to Europe, which included persons in Italy, Greece, and other areas exclusive

of Asia Minor and Africa. An important aspect to note is that ancient Greeks and Romans did not

exclusively identify with the term 'white' as they reserved the terms for 'barbarians' from

Northern Europe (Cox, 2018). Nevertheless, it suffices to associate the Greco-Romans with the

term 'white' to contrast their domination of culture against the blacks and the eventual

culmination of the culture into the reception and adoption of white civilization. It is also essential

to understand that the terms above had a complicated relationship in their meaning and

correspondence to the 'Greek-ness' and 'Roman-ness' principles. Loosely, one may point to their

more ethnical reference as opposed to racial sentiments.

While upholding the historical legacy of the 'classics,' the discussion on anti-black

racism has become problematic in many contexts and often fraught, negating the possibility of its

existence in the ancient Greco-Roman world. However, careful considerations idealize that

modern preconception of racism plays a minor part in the overall phenomena, an indication that

ancient racial attitudes were not only unnervingly similar to the modern racial attitudes but have

mainly been a part of justifying racists attitudes through the last few decades. While at it, there

are no notable instances of systematic persecution of an ethnic group by another in classical

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antiquity. However, it is observed that the involvement of society in different workings such as

poetry, prose, and visual art were possible subjugations.

Also, racism in ancient history deviates from the modern concept of biological

determinism. Greek and Roman antiquity did not have the concept of heredity and nationalism

that is prominent in modern times. At the said times, racism was regarded in a broader term

defined as just "differences" instead of "biological differences.” There was, however, a huge

spectrum of prejudice, phobia, and animosity toward particular groups of foreign nationals. The

distinction between the hostility demonstrated towards different groups in ancient and modern

times is that the former sought the cause of differences in either physiological or genetic

determinism. This ideology alluded that the human will could not alter the distinct features. It

was entirely out of human beings' control since they are internal (genetic or physiological) or

external (environment and geography). Proto-racism occurred in instances of unchangeable

internal or external factors. In contrast, ethnic or group prejudice was regarded as human actions

or interactions under people's control. The subsequent section elucidates the five common

concepts in antiquity.

Environmental determinism

Environmental determinism enabled the ancient Greco-Roman world to classify

foreigners based on fixed physical and mental characteristics determined by climate and

geography. The “theory of degeneration” is suitable to connect modern racism and the ancient

world. The theory of degeneration proposed by George-Louis Buffon (1707-1788) demonstrated

early forms of racism. It is an application of the environmental theory whereby the proponent

referred to the white man as the normal man. In contrast, black people's blackness resulted from

the tropical climate (Isaac, 2004, 9). Buffon alluded that the black man could recover his original
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color (white), which represents humanity if he returned to a temperate area. He supported this

notion by suggesting some black Senegalese be shipped to Denmark in an experiment to see the

period in which they would return their white, blond, and blue-eyed appeal. Buffon attributed the

blackness of the Ethiopians to the sun but never considered the whiteness of the white people

being a bleach of the black color due to the northern climate. Although the experiment failed, a

theory was born when white was considered the acceptable complexion and black was regarded

as a form of degeneration. Consequently, climate and geography erode the notion of acquiring

body and mind features genetically, independently of choice, or from the social environment

(Isaac, 2006). Environmental theory posits that climate and geography ultimately define people's

characteristics. According to this approach, individual differences and changes can be

undermined.

Racists’ attitudes can be deducted from categorizing distinct characteristics of specific

individuals. An entire racial group is defined using some commonalities brought forth by

external factors which are stable and unalterable by implication. These presumptive features are

then susceptible to a value judgment, in which foreigners are either perceived as inferior to the

observer or endorsed as untainted and better than the rest (Isaac, 2006). Such ideologies are not

objective but rather demonstrations of proto-racism. Several authors made distinctions between

people living in the cold and those living in tropical climates, including Montesquieu, Aristotle,

and Hippocrates. Montesquieu described people living in the cold as both self-confident and

bold. In contrast, those living in hot regions were deficient in self-confidence and courage,

adding that the latter was more emotional (Isaac, 2006). Although this did not have much weight

on the environmental theory, it formed a basis for differentiating the attributes of the people

living in these diverse climates. Aristotle refers to European countries' citizens as high-spirited
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people but skill and intelligence deficient. Consequently, attaining comparative freedom but

lacking political development and demonstrating an inability to lead others. On the other hand,

Asians are skilled and have intelligence, but lack tenacity and hence remain subjects of slavery.

Greeks with a geographic advantage had a balance of both spirit and intelligence (Isaac, 2004).

Thus, they are free, politically developed, and have the potential to lead all the others. Such

presuppositions allude that the Greeks had the potential to govern others due to their

environmental position. On the other hand, Romans built on these ideas, although with a few

deviations. The Roman authors idealized themselves as the suitable rulers using North and East

geographical poles instead of distinguishing between Europe and Asia.

Similarly, other methodological fallacies that associated color with the climatic

conditions have their origins in the treatise Airs Waters Places. Hippocrates added to this notion

by comparing Europe and Asia in a bipolar worldview. He evaluates the physical shape of the

Europeans and Asians in a passage that focuses on each continent’s inhabitants and vegetation.

The author concludes that one continent was wilder than the other. Ultimately, its inhabitants

were milder and gentler because of the temperate climate and where each lay adjacently to the

sun. Asians had an optimal climate because it was located further away from the cold and further

east between the sun risings. As a result of having good water and plenty of food, the people

therein were courageous, full of tenacity and energy. These statements depicted that the climate

in their land determined all the physical and moral attributes of the Asians. The treatise does not

elucidate much on the European climate since pronounced changes characterize it, thus instilling

in its inhabitant’s body and soul endurance. Therefore, according to this literary work, climate

and geography determine the people's character.

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Environmental determinism did not only apply to Asia and Europe but also to the blacks

commonly referred to as "Ethiopians" by the Greeks. Although, according to Isaac (2006), their

population would not be felt much among the Greeks and Romans, questions of why

environments characterized by cold or hot climates seemed to determine appearance were heard.

The statement posits the adverse effects of living in extreme climates. Snowden demonstrates

that the Ethiopian population was evident in antiquity, primarily through literature and art.

Classic examples of how climatic conditions, especially heat, influenced the physical appearance

were attributed to the curly hair and bandy legs possessed by both Egyptians and Ethiopians. In a

passage written in the second century CE by Claudius Ptolemy, he demonstrates climatic racism

not almost similar to that of Hippocrates. He talks of the blackness and wooliness of the hair of

"Ethiopians" due to the burning effect since they live in a southern region adjacent to the sun.

It further explains that the difference in the color of the eyes where southerners have dark

eyes while northerners have grey ones is due to the temperature and its effect on the moisture in

the body. Similarly, he attacked the character of the blacks by stating that all people with curly

hair like the Egyptians and Ethiopians are untrustworthy since individuals who fit a certain

physical stereotype outlined in a particular nation tend to have negative attributes( mental and

moral) as those in that nation (Isaac, 2006). The passage further remarks on the Ethiopian's

stature as being shrunk and naturally made to serve the "upright" man. The environmental theory

was a widely endorsed concept, especially by the European authors, leading to the subsequent

development of racism. With that being said, it is imperative to note that, independently,

environmental determinism was not sufficient evidence to articulate the presence of proto-

racism. All the five concepts ought to be combined.

The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

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The inheritance of acquired characteristics is the second concept commonly embraced by

the ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, especially in the eighteenth century. During the ancient

world, Lamarck’s theory was popularized by numerous authors. For example, in Aristotle’s

passages, the treatise Airs, Waters, Places, and other literary works, were extensively expounded.

The proof of this was demonstrated from the hereditary scars in children obtained from their

parent's wounds or tattoos (Isaac, 2006). Buffon expands on this claim by defining race as

species variations whose characteristics have become hereditary due to continued actions with

the exact causes that create individual differences (Isaac, 2004). Similarly, the treatise mentioned

above proposed that people who elongated their skulls artificially as a feature of nobility led to

children with elongated skulls after a couple of generations.

An innate biological factor enables living organisms to transfer some of their physical

features to their descendants. This hypothesis supports the essence of racism first coined by

Immanuel Kant as it locks the organism permanently to its present features (Isaac, 2006, 76). The

concept of heredity of acquired characteristics repudiates the idea that the child’s brain is a

tabula rasa during birth, acquiring qualities, abilities, and attributes throughout life. It also

highlights the constancy and uniformity in human beings’ characteristics. Borrowing from

Lamarck’s theory, geographer Strabo, the writer of the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, posits

that children are naturally similar to their parents as a result of seminal communication. He

further states that acquired characteristics are transmitted into the child through the father’s

sperm. Another document that contributes to this idea is the Naturalis Historia (NH) by elder

Pliny, who, in his seventh book, notes that a child born of deformed parents can inherit some

form of deformity, birthmark, or moles in the exact places that the parents have the birthmarks.

(Isaac, 2004). In other cases, one can be identified with a birthmark traced to the fourth
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generation. According to this concept, the sun contributed to the parents acquiring specific

characteristics and later transferring them to their siblings. Aristotle claims that all non-Greeks

were characterized by similar physical, mental and moral attributes determined by unchangeable,

stable inheritance factors. The assertion that people are naturally born and built to be slaves is a

classic example of proto-racism.

Combination of These Factors

A combination of environmental determinism and inheritance of acquired characteristics

leads people to assume that human beings’ features are constant and uniform. This concept

presupposes that both climate and geography affect the people therein. However, the permanent

features of a person are a result of the aforementioned effects, thus becoming hereditary in the

following one or two generations. Despite the acquired characteristics stemming from several

generations, antiquity authors believed that if one relocated to a different environment, they

could change (Isaac, 2006). There was ambiguity on the transmission of acquired characteristics

since Pliny observed that deformed parents could produce sound children and vice versa. As a

result, Pliny revised his assertion and stated that likeness could result from accidental

circumstances. Seneca built on this notion by proposing that only better characters are acquired

by birth. In contrast, other factors such as the climate and soil play a role in the development of a

person’s character. A combination of these two factors propagates racial attitudes and prejudice.

The Constitution and Form of Government

The form of government played a role in determining or shaping people's characters.

Good governance led to a strong people, while poor governance hindered the citizens from

functioning correctly. For instance, in the fourth and fifth centuries, Asian people were regarded

as feeble because they were ruled by monarchs, while Europeans were ruled by good institutions
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causing them to be good fighters (Isaac, 2006, 513). Aristotle expanded this concept by claiming

that the Greeks were the suitable rulers of all humankind since they combined both intelligence

and tenacity. Similarly, in a chapter of Xenophon found in the Cyropaedia, the author

presupposes that Persia was only strong due to its king. Combining these factors with

environmental determinism illustrates how external factors determine people's character.

Autochthony and Pure lineage

Through the ages, the notion that superior people are from pure lineages far from foreign

elements mixture has been prominent. Kant is relentless in demonstrating this by suggesting that

the Spaniards (people born out of a mixture of races between European and Arab) character

defined by cruelty is evident in bullfights due to his origins in Europe. A different historian

supports Kant’s claim by alluding that hybridization entails heterogeneity due to breaking up

unified races and thus producing people with unstable spiritual and moral standards (Isaac, 2006,

110). In his literary texts, Martin Nilsson states that the fall of the Roman Empire is attributed to

racial contamination.

Lineage was particularly essential in ancient times. In a portion of Parmenides written by

Hecataeus regarding the Egyptians and Scythians in Airs Waters and Places, the author claims

that no other people resemble the two groups of people. Although the text attributed their

physical attributes to the climate, it also acknowledged their lineage due to being so separate

from others. In addition, lineage was believed to affect social identity. For instance, in Herodotus

1.56, the author gives an example of how migration and interaction might have changed the

language of the Athenians into the Greek language when they passed through the Hellenic

community (Isaac, 2006, 111). It is also critical to examine whether, indeed, the Athenians were

autochthonous. Autochthony in this context refers to the indigenous inhabitants of a country. It is

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evident in a speech delivered to Gelo of Syracuse in which the author claims that Athenians are

the oldest Greeks in Greece. The Athenians held on to the dual myth that since they had never

moved from their original land, they were of a pure lineage unmixed with other communities.

They furthered this notion by alleging that they had come from the soil. As a result of this belief,

they were superior as they were the legitimate possessors of their soil. To preserve the pureness

in the lineage, a law by Pericles which only allowed citizenship to be offered to two citizens was

enacted. (Isaac, 2004, 5). Romans and Greeks widely accepted this literature.

Due to the popularization of that notion, degeneration was seen as a result of mixed blood

and intermarriage. A classic example was the Celts who moved into Asia Minor, consequently

deteriorating for having moved into a new environment and being of mixed race, which Livy

refers to as 'degenerate and mixed .'The comedy in Aristophanes' also furthers this claim when

the author prides on being a genuine Autochthon stating that they are the "only true-born attics.”

Demosthenes supports the idea by claiming that although migrants might receive citizenship,

they can only be compared to adopted children since Athenians are the legitimate possessors of

their fatherland (Isaac, 2006, 121). Similarly, in a speech attributed to Alcibiades by Thucydides,

the author alludes that an enemy might defeat other Greek cities in Sicily because mixed

populations might be willing to fight for it with passion. Such beliefs can be closely equated to

modern racism, whereby people are classified according to either pure lineage or mixed descent.

Modern Effects of Racism in Greco-Roman Philosophy

Ancient racial attitudes are still resonant in the modern world. This can be ascribed to the

fact that classical antiquity informed and inspired the modern era. Furthermore, advances in

modern racial science are frequently based on ancient theories. The elite used bigotries found in

ancient texts and societies to rationalize their own perspective. White supremacy is often
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justified using sources that reject racism. Secondly, from the information above, it is evident that

although racism was indeed present in antiquity, some authors still held to the notion that it was

non-existent. Similarly, modern racism intercepts such narratives by continually acknowledging

such outdated worldviews.

There are ancient theories that still justify slavery in the modern era. The concept brought

forth by Aristotle about people born and built naturally to be slaves is still reflected currently. At

the same time, climatic racism still vibrates in the modern world, though with minimal effect. A

classic example is Ellen Churchill in her 1911 work, where she attributes race to the environment

in which people come from. As a result, environmental determinism was a basis for unfair and

unequal working conditions as black people were used to temperate zones and thus could be

exposed to harsher conditions. In addition, Jefferson boldly states that it was impossible for the

black and white people to co-exist since the former had its distinct characteristics, including

'terrible smell, lack of beauty and inferiority among so much more. The modern inquiry into

slavery shed light on the anti-blackness notion subtly promoting white supremacy. Jefferson

racializes Roman slavery by comparing the condition of the Roman slaves to that of the Blacks

living in America. He concluded that since Roman slaves (whites), although living in

discouraging conditions yet, emerged as the best artists while enslaved Black people were

perceived as failures, then which meant, by extension, that blacks were naturally inferior.

Fitzhugh also draws from the ancient concept of Greek and Roman slavery to justify how

domestic slavery in the American state has yielded similar results. From these examples, it is

clear that Jefferson and Fitzhugh used ancient Greco-Roman practices to assert their racist

attitude.
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Other modern scholars use ancient sources to portray the negative side of slavery,

consequently promoting racial bias. A classic example is George Mason, who attributes the

decay and fall of the Roman government to the presence of many slaves. The notion was

prominent throughout the early nineteenth century. Other scholars built on Aristotle’s idea that

natural-born slaves are intellectually less than their masters. This notion was propagated in the

modern world, where black people are perceived as having intellectual capacity like children. As

a result, slavery was a suitable way to educate and make them better people. The effects of

ancient racism in the modern world are evident where racists hide behind the ancient theories

either by campaigning against anti-blackness to portraying the negative side of slavery.

In summary, current race discourses appear to reach a consensus that prejudice rises in

today's world and has no place in ancient history. This stems from a lack of evidence that racial

hatred existed in the past. However, through a critical evaluation of the prototypes available in

Greco-Roman literary sources, it is undebatable that there were traces of racism in the

contemporary world though it deviates from modern-world racism. The ancient Greeks and

Romans were the most significant contributors to religion and philosophy in their pursuit of

knowledge and comprehension of the nature of truth. Some of the first schools included the

Milesian School, which attributed nature to the compounding of matter, and Socratic thought,

which focused on human beings' social, ethical, and political aspects. According to Herodotus,

Greeks were unified by their common way of life, blood, speech, and religion, while Romans

included Europeans, Asians, and Africans in their Roman citizenship. Textual sources supporting

the existence of racism in Greco-Roman Philosophy are pretty limited. However, three schools,

namely Visual Survey School, the Colorblind school, and the Adjustment School, offer insightful

references to the existence or lack thereof of the racial concept. Racism is defined as a sort of
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discrimination based on someone's particular race. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, all black

people were referred to as Ethiopians. Numerous authors illustrated the distinction between a

black person and a white one.

There are five distinct concepts that, when combined, were used to classify specific

groups. They include environmental determinism, heredity of acquired characteristics, a

combination of the two ideas, the form of government and constitution, and autochthony and

pure lineage. Environmental determinism attributes blackness to temperate regions and the

burning effect of the sun while whiteness is a result of cold temperature. Heredity supposes that

children acquire certain characteristics from their parents. A combination of the two posits that

the climate causes certain characteristics that parents transfer to their children over time.

People’s well-being is assumed by the type of constitution and leadership that governs them. The

last concept presupposes that ‘degenerates’ are a result of impure mixed breeds. Implications of

ancient ideas on racism still reverberate in the current world mainly because most modern-day

approaches are still informed by classical antiquity. Although not as apparent as the current-day

racism, by evaluating the prototypes in Greco-Roman Philosophy, one can detect forms of

racism.
 21

References

Beardsley, G. H. (1929). The Negro in Greek and Roman Civilization A Study Of the Ethiopian Type.

Cox, C. (2018). “The people with burned faces": Greco-Roman anti-black racism and its modern effects.

Whitman College

Isaac, B. (2004). The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity. New Jersey: Princeton University

Press.

Isaac, B. (2006). proto-racism in Graeco-Roman antiquity. World Archaeology, 38(1).

Samuels, T. (2013). The Riddle in the Dark: Re-thinking 'Blackness' in Greco-Roman Racial Discourse.

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