Research Guides: WRPR 191 Constructions of Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World (HC): Primary Sources

Roman Portraits

Two brothers, painted panel, Fayum, Egypt. 2nd c. C.E., Cairo, Egyptian Museum. See Anne E Haeckel, "Brothers or Lovers? A New Reading of the "Tondo of the Two Brothers" Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists for more information. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Source Anthologies

Collections of primary texts in anthologies can be good for browsing. They touch on many different issues, often excerpting brief passages from full works that you can find in the tricolleges or through interlibrary loan.

The primary source collections below relate to issues of race and ethnicity in Antiquity.

Ethnic/Immigrant Associations in Antiquity
Translations of documentary texts taken from the book, Associations in the Graeco-Roman World: An Expanding Collection of Inscriptions, Papyri, and Other Sources in Translation.
Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism with Introductions, Translations and Commentary. by Menahem Stern (Editor)
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ISBN: 9789652080356
Publication Date: 1974-1984
Three-volume collection of texts by ancient authors in English translations. The authors range in time from Herodotus to the 6th century Neo-Platonist Simplicius.
Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans by Louis H. Feldman; Meyer Reinhold (Editor)
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ISBN: 0800629264
Publication Date: 2003-09-01
Two leading authorities on the classical period bring together an amazing variety of ancient sources in an accessible and interesting way. Included are helpful introductions, a glossary, maps, illustrations, and other aids for reading and research. This book includes the most comprehensive coverage available of sources in the area of anti-Semitism and (what is usually more neglected) philo-Semitism. It coordinates literacy, epigraphical, papyrological, and numismatic evidence.
Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World by Rebecca F. Kennedy (Translator); C. Sydnor Roy (Translator); Max L. Goldman (Translator)
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ISBN: 9781603849951
Publication Date: 2013-09-15
By offering fluent, accurate translations of extracts and fragments from a wide assortment of ancient texts, this volume allows a comprehensive overview of ancient Greek and Roman concepts of otherness, as well as Greek and Roman views of non-Greeks and non-Romans.

Images

JSTOR Images (formerly Artstor)
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A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Note you can specify time periods, country and theme in your image searches.
If you are a first-time user, register your user name and password for greater services

British Museum Collection Online
Search over 3 million objects in the museum's collections. For precise results, see the Advanced Search.. in which you can specify theme, date range, and country.
Pottery Database
The Beazley Archive at the University of Oxford maintains this extensive database (over 130, 000 images) on ancient Greek vases. It is searchable by theme, type of vase, inscription, painter, technique (e.g., white ground), and collection.
The Beazley Archive's Classical Art Research Centre has many other resources included the digitized Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and a merged database that draws on 22 separate files including the Pottery Database.

Art History

The Greeks in Asia by John Boardman
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Publication Date: 2015-06-16
Study of the influence of Greek communities and their culture through Central Asia, India, and Western China, from the Bronze Age to the rise of Islam. Illustrated by a wealth of art and artifacts as well as literary sources to reveal the remarkable influence of Greek culture on peoples--Anatolians, Levantines, Persians, Asiatics, Indians, and Chinese.
The Image of the Black in Western Art by David Bindman; Dominique de Menil
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Publication Date: 2010-11-01
This is the first volume in a ten part series surveying the fascinating subject of the representation of black people in art throughout history.. This first volume covers the period from ancient Egypt through the fall of the Roman Empire and is heavily illustrated.
Not the Classical Ideal by Beth Cohen (Editor)
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Publication Date: 2000-02-18
A vision of reality in which a pre-eminent human type was defined in opposition to non-ideal 'Others' characterized ancient Greece. In Athens the social structure privileged male citizens, and women, resident aliens, and slaves were marginalized. The Persian Wars polarized the opposition of Greeks and Barbarians.

Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color
Blog post by Sarah Bond.