it is definitely a bullshit term but the greco-romans WERE racialists
infact they categorized people of darken skin to be more cowardly and thus unsuited for combat rules rather use them for farming or other slave labor
4.8 Disproportionate racism towards non-Europeans
Although the Romans and Greeks stereotyped and prejudged every ethnic group they encountered, they appeared to have had significantly lower opinions of those outside of Europe. Greco-Roman racism towards North Africans and Middle Easterners was deep-seated, and particularly venomous towards the latter.
Negative stereotypes of the Middle East can be traced back as far as the 8th Century BC. Homer’s Odyssey described the Phoenicians (also known as ‘Punics,’ the Canaanite peoples who founded the Carthaginian Empire, which spanned the entirety of the North African coast), as eternally deceitful merchants. Homer replaces their respectful epithet polydaidaloi (“of many skills”) with polypaipaloi (“of many tricks”). They kidnap children, corrupt women, and lure merchants on false voyages to sell them into slavery.
Roman attitude towards the Punics was even more unforgiving. They were regarded as the most treacherous of all races and the Romans would stop at nothing to completely obliterate their empire. Cato the Elder famously ended every Senate speech with “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam” (“And furthermore, I think that Carthage must be destroyed”). The common Roman proverb ‘Punic fides’ (“Punic Faith,” see: Cicero, Livy, Lucan, etc.) implied that they were religiously devoted to nefarious activities. The Punics’ reputation as a race of two-faced swindlers was later handed down to successive Levantine populations, such as the Jews and the Lebanese. Likewise, the Punic fides was levied against the Punics’ North African descendants long after the fall of Carthage.
The Romans appear to have held the ‘Syrians’ (a moniker that they seemingly used for both Syrians-proper and Middle Easterners in general) in the utmost contempt. They were viewed as being feeble, servile, and degenerate, but also pompous and decadent. Manlius Acilius contrasts the higher grade of European warriors to those of the Middle East, claiming that the ‘Syrians’ were born for slavery:
“that hostile army was both larger in number and composed of a somewhat better grade of soldiers; there, as you know, were Macedonians and Thracians and Illyrians, all most warlike nations, here Syrians and Asiatic Greeks, the most worthless peoples among mankind and born for slavery.” — Manlius Acilius (191 BC, Quoted by Livy)
The idea that rival ethnic groups were “born for slavery” was a common view among Greeks and Romans:
another one
Romans frequently compared Middle Eastern religious rites to homosexuality and feminization. For example, circumcision was legally equated to castration by the Roman state (See: anti-castration/circumcision laws passed by Hadrian and Antoninus Pius). “Eunuch” was a common insult thrown at easterners (which included the inhabitants of Anatolia).
Roman hostility towards Jewish religious rites (and Jews themselves), was particularly extreme, becoming more radical over time. Referencing the killing of Christ, Constantine the Great referred to the Jews as a “nefarious sect” of “bloodstained men.”
According to mainstream Roman authors, Jews were…
sceleratissima gens, the “most villainous race” (Seneca); taeterrima gens, the“most disgusting race” (Tacitus); pernicosa gens, the “most pernicious race” (Quiltilian); and “lower than reptiles” (Cleomedes).
They were seen as a generally antisocial people, who dwelled among the Romans, yet isolated themselves from the Roman society; loyal only to themselves and overtly hostile to others.
the Northerns on the other hand were considered too warlike and independent to ever to be reduced to slaves, so they used northerners as mercenaries or in the case of refusal to the empire wholesale-slaughtered them and let another germanic tribe who was friendly to rome take their lands
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but the greco-romans WERE racialists
infact they categorized people of darken skin to be more cowardly and thus unsuited for combat rules rather use them for farming or other slave labor
“that hostile army was both larger in number and composed of a somewhat better grade of soldiers; there, as you know, were Macedonians and Thracians and Illyrians, all most warlike nations, here Syrians and Asiatic Greeks, the most worthless peoples among mankind and born for slavery.”
— Manlius Acilius (191 BC, Quoted by Livy)
The idea that rival ethnic groups were “born for slavery” was a common view among Greeks and Romans:
another one
taeterrima gens, the“most disgusting race” (Tacitus);
pernicosa gens, the “most pernicious race” (Quiltilian);
and “lower than reptiles” (Cleomedes).
the Northerns on the other hand were considered too warlike and independent to ever to be reduced to slaves, so they used northerners as mercenaries or in the case of refusal to the empire wholesale-slaughtered them and let another germanic tribe who was friendly to rome take their lands
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