Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks

by Frank M. Snowden Jr.

In this richly illustrated account of black-white contacts from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, Frank Snowden demonstrates that the ancients didn't discriminate against blacks because of their color. For 3000 years Mediterranean whites intermittently came in contact with African blacks in commerce & war, & left a record of these encounters in art & in written documents. The blacks--most commonly known as Kushites, Ethiopians or Nubians--were redoubtable warriors & commanded the respect of their white adversaries. The overall view of blacks was highly favorable. In science, philosophy & religion color wasn't the basis of theories concerning inferior peoples. Early Christianity saw in blacks a dramatic symbol of its catholic mission.
This book sheds light on the reasons for the absence in antiquity of virulent color prejudice & for the difference in attitudes of whites toward blacks in ancient & modern societies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Africa, Race

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I value books which effectively challenge my prejudices and open my mind. Although Snowden is commonly criticized for being too simplistic, his thesis that color prejudice was virtually nonexistent in the classical world fits with my, admittedly limited, study of ancient history and writings. Although the Greeks and Romans did distinguish the swarthy complexion of sunburned plebs as opposed to the pampered complexions of patricians, they did not much mention skin color unless, as in the case of subSaharan Africans, it was notably extreme. Like the colonial French of our times, and unlike the English, what ultimately mattered was language and culture. Anyone could be admitted to the elite so long as they had the requisite manner and means. This, of course, is a generalization. In classical Greece parentage and birthplace mattered as well, but such considerations diminished as a function of the replacement of city-states by crosscultural empires. As a consequence of this lack of racial awareness, we are often unable to estimate the appearance of North Africans of the Hellenistic or Roman Empires--but that's the point: what counts, what is significant as far as appearances are concerned varies from culture to culture.
This book was picked up at a bookstore in Omaha, Nebraska while Robyn Canning and I were driving a truckload of stuff from Chicago to Denver on behalf of the Ares Press.

[Will Shetterly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended to anyone who thinks humans have always been racist, and to anyone who has to deal with people who don't understand that racism is a historically recent idea.

[Patrick (Kunle) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very illuminating read, a lot of takeaways here for me.

The author was overreaching with some of his arguments, but to me, he ultimately proved his thesis - In antiquity, color was not a basis for prejudice and Blacks were, if anything, more celebrated than discriminated against.

Something has to be said for the simple yet profound view the ancients had on race. They recognized the differences - from the 'Scythian' in the North to the 'Ethiopian' in the South - but they didn't make any wild extrapolations based on these differences. They understood it was a consequence of climate and geography, and they moved on. That's not to say there was no discrimination or prejudice though, they discriminated against each other based on mutable things like customs and language; make of that what you will.

I wish we could get a sequel to explore how, and at what point, those wise ancient sensibilities gave way to whatever it is we have now.

[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Muhammad · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Frank M. Snowden Jr.'s Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks (1983) challenges the assumption that racial prejudice, particularly against people of African descent, has always existed in its modern form. Drawing upon ancient Greek and Roman literature, historical accounts, and artistic representations, Snowden demonstrates that Black Africans occupied a more varied position in classical Mediterranean society than modern racial assumptions might suggest. Although Greeks and Romans practiced slavery, expressed cultural superiority, and recognized physical differences, their societies did not organize human worth around the rigid racial hierarchies that later developed through European colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade. Snowden's central contribution is his demonstration that recognizing human differences does not inevitably produce systems of racial domination.

The book's greatest strength is its challenge to the idea that racism is an unavoidable feature of human nature. However, Snowden's generally favorable interpretation of ancient racial attitudes has attracted criticism for potentially minimizing evidence of color prejudice and relying upon modern racial categories to describe ancient populations. Despite these limitations, Before Color Prejudice remains an important contribution to classical scholarship and the historical study of race. Its enduring significance lies in demonstrating that racial hierarchies are historically constructed rather than permanent features of civilization. If societies once existed without the particular racial order familiar to the modern world, we must ask what political, economic, and religious forces created that order—and whose interests its continued existence serves.

[Christopher Hutson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forty years later, it's still helpful to have an overview of the literary and material evidence regarding black Africans in antiquity. Snowden demonstrates conclusively that Ethiopians and related peoples interacted on many levels with other people groups throughout the Mediterranean area and that skin-color prejudice was never an issue.

[RD Chiriboga Moncayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading to understand racism.

[Raymonds009 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not knowing a whole lot about the scholarship here (my background is more in language issues) I was intrigued by the title. Was there really a time before color prejudice? Was it even possible? For me this book was a major revelation.

The author makes a clear and highly believable case. With use of illustrations as well as deep research his premise is hard to dismiss. The amount of review of original texts and existing artwork (as well as descriptions of things no longer with us) is astounding in its clarity of the issue. Racial prejudice basically did not exist until sometime after about 400 ce.

Provocative and highly recommended.

[Floyd LeVere II · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book. easy reading and plenty of info to further research.