Racism - A Short History - George M Fredrickson.pdf - WNLibrary

It is the dominant view among scholars who have studied
conceptions of difference in the ancient world that
no concept truly equivalent to that of “race” can be
detected in the thought of the Greeks, Romans, and early
Christians. The Greeks distinguished between the civilized
and the barbarous, but these categories do not seem to have
been regarded as hereditary. One was civilized if one was
fortunate enough to live in a city-state and participate in
political life, barbarous if one lived rustically under some
form of despotic rule. 1 The Romans had slaves representing
all the colors and nationalities found on the frontiers of
their empire and citizens of corresponding diversity from
among those who were free and proffered their allegiance
to the republic or the emperor. 2 After extensive research,
the classical scholar Frank Snowden could find no evidence
that dark skin color served as the basis of invidious distinctions
anywhere in the ancient world. The early Christians,
for example, celebrated the conversion of Africans as evidence
for their faith in the spiritual equality of all human
beings. 3
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