GLAM 322 | Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World

Students in this course explore ancient Greek and Roman ideas about race and ethnicity and reflect upon how that thinking remains influential today. Students investigate how categories of race and ethnicity are presented in the literature of the Ancient Mediterranean through reading such authors as Homer, Herodotus, Aristotle, Vergil, Caesar, and Tacitus and through examining visual evidence. They study concepts such as racial formation and origin; ancient theories of ethnic superiority; and linguistic, religious, and cultural differentiation as a basis for ethnic differentiation. They also examine ancient racism as seen in such social processes as colonization, migration, assimilation, and imperialism. Students have to consider the impact of a number of divergent factors on conceptions of race and ethnicity, including: power (who defines the categories?); source (do all authors treat these terms in the same way?); and context (in what ways do identities shift due to historical events and changing political or social contexts?).