Category Archives: (b) Southern peoples

Assyrian / Babylonian wisdom: Sibyl of Babylon on the superiority of the Judean people (second century BCE)

Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Celts, and others: The Cicero brothers on the nature and effectiveness of divination (mid-first century BCE)

Axumite perspectives: Inscription by the king of Axum on the Ethiopian and Arabian peoples he conquered (late-second or early-third century CE)

Babylonian diasporas: Hippolytos and Epiphanios on legends of migration from Babel (third-fourth centuries CE)

Babylonian diasporas: Josephos and other Judeans on legends of migration from Babel (first-second centuries CE)

Barbaria’s inhabitants, Arabians, and Indians: Anonymous author on trade and peoples on the Erythraian sea all the way to eastern India (mid-first century CE)

Barbarian peoples: Hellanikos, Nymphodoros, Nikolaos, and others with collections of “barbarian customs” (fifth century BCE on)

Barbarians and Greeks: Eratosthenes challenges the dichotomy (third century BCE)

Carthaginians: Appian of Alexandria (mid-second century CE)

Carthaginians: Plato, Aristotle, Polybios and others on their character and communal organization (fourth century BCE on)

Chaldeans, Greeks, Egyptians, and Judeans: Aristides of Athens (second century CE)

Cretans, Spartans, Carthaginians, and Romans: Polybios on superior and inferior societal organization (second century BCE)

Egyptian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Egyptian perspectives: Chairemon on Egyptian temple functionaries and the astral significance of gods (first century CE)

Egyptian perspectives: Isidoros’ hymns in praise of the goddess Hermouthis and legendary pharaohs (early first century BCE)

Egyptian perspectives: Manetho on “Egyptian Matters” (early third century BCE)

Egyptian wisdom: Alexander Romance on king Nektanebos the astrologer and diviner (fourth century CE and earlier)

Egyptian wisdom: Apuleius on Zatchlas the Egyptian prophet who calls up the dead (late second century CE)

Egyptian wisdom: Cicero, Diodoros and Valerius Maximus on Pythagoras’ and Plato’s supposed journeys to Egypt (first centuries BCE and CE)

Egyptian wisdom: Lucian’s story about Eukrates and Pankrates (late second century CE)

Egyptian wisdom: Plato on Solon, the Egyptian priest, and Atlantis (mid-fourth century BCE)

Egyptian wisdom: Plato’s Socrates on the discoveries of the Egyptian god Thoth (fourth century BCE)

Egyptian wisdom: Thessalos on king Nechepsos and an Egyptian priest (first or second century CE)

Egyptians, Taurians, and Celts: Cicero’s Philus engages in ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (mid-first century BCE)

Egyptians: Ammianus on their “dark” complexion and insubordinate behaviour (late fourth century CE)

Egyptians: Ammonios’ papyrus letter on “inhuman Egyptians” (third century CE)

Egyptians: Cicero on superstition and animal-worship (mid-first century BCE)

Egyptians: Herodotos on customs and legendary kings (fifth century BCE)

Egyptians: Josephos on animal worship (late first century CE)

Egyptians: Strabo on animal gods and accompanying rites (early first century CE)

Egyptians: The Judean tale of Joseph and Aseneth on rejecting Egyptian gods and on intermarriage (ca. first century CE)

Ethiopians and Thracians: Xenophon of Kolophon theorizes human representations of gods (sixth century BCE)

Ethiopians or Nubians: Athenian-style pottery depictions of darker-skinned subjects (sixth-fifth centuries BCE)

Ethiopians or Nubians: Pottery from Athens and Greek cities of Italy depicting a darker-skinned youth devoured by a crocodile (fifth-fourth centuries BCE)

Ethiopians, Nubians, and Egyptians: Christian authors picturing darker-skinned peoples as “demons” (second century CE on)

Ethiopians: Alexander Polyhistor on Memnonians as wild and war-like (mid-first century BCE)

Ethiopians: Aristokreon on a people ruled by a dog (mid-third century BCE)

Ethiopians: Artapanos and Josephos on Moses, intermarriage, and the Kushites (second century BCE-first century CE)

Ethiopians: Palladios and others on Abba Moses the former bandit with darker skin (fourth-fifth centuries CE)

Ethiopians: Strabo on a hard lifestyle in a harsh environment (early first century CE)

Ethnic diversity in Libya / Africa: Sallust on legends of migration (mid-first century BCE)

Gauls, Kimbrians, Numidians, Indians, and others: Valerius Maximus’ collection of “barbarian customs” (early first century CE)

Germans, Britons, and Indians: Strabo on travelers, soldiers and merchants as sources of information (early first century CE)

Greek diasporas and indigenous Libyans: Herodotos on tales of colonization (mid-fifth century BCE)

Indian wisdom: Alexander Polyhistor and Clement of Alexandria (VII) on the Brahmans and naked sages (first century BCE / late second century CE)

Indians, Ethiopians and others: Pliny the Elder on “unbelievable” peoples (first century CE)

Indians: Curtius Rufus on the environment and the peoples (first century CE)

Judeans, Syrians, and Egyptians: Epiktetos engages with ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (mid-first century CE)

Judeans, Syrians, Celts, Scythians and others: Plutarch on the “barbarian” origins of fearing the gods, or “superstition” (early second century CE)

Libyan perspectives: Apuleius self-identifies as a barbarian and Numidian / Gaetulian (mid-second century CE)

Libyan perspectives: Cornelius Fronto self-identifies as a “barbarian” and Libyan nomad (mid-second century CE)

Libyans / Africans: Ancient and modern composite statue of “The Moor”

Libyans / Africans: Pliny the Elder on various peoples and strange customs (first century CE)

Libyans / Africans: Sallust and Punic sources on the geography and peoples (mid-first century BCE)

Libyans / Africans: Tacitus on Tacfarinas and resistance by Numidians, Maurians, and Musulamians (early second century CE)

Libyans and Ausourianians: Synesios on years of incursions into Cyrenaica (early fifth century CE)

Libyans and Maurians: Corippus’ poetic survey of northern African peoples in the tale of John Troglita (after 548 CE)

Libyans, Assyrians and Arabians: Kleodemos and Josephos on Abraham and Keturah’s descendants and their many colonies (second or first century BCE on)

Libyans, Egyptians, Iberians, and Celts: Diodoros on Herakles’ civilizing expeditions (mid-first century BCE)

Libyans, Iberians, and Celts: Cicero on controlling “savage” peoples (mid-first century BCE)

Libyans, Maurians and Ausourianians: Ammianus Marcellinus on their savage behaviour and banditry (late fourth century CE)

Libyans: Dionysios of Mytilene and Diodoros on Nasamonians, Marmaridians, and Libyan Amazons (third / mid-first century BCE)

Libyans: Hanno the Carthaginian (fourth century BCE or earlier)

Medes, Assyrians, Baktrians, and others: Herodotos on the mixed composition of the Persian army under Xerxes (fifth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Artemidoros theorizes foreign elements in dreams (second century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Augustus on his own achievements, conquests and alliances with peoples (14 CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Claudius Ptolemy on astrological effects on peoples (second century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Dionysios of Alexandria’s poetic Guide to the Inhabited World (117-138 CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Maximus of Tyre on images for the gods as ubiquitous among peoples (late second century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pausanias, ethnographic interests, and local traditions (mid-second century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pliny the Elder on inventors around the world (first century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Polemon theorizes the meaning of physical features (second / fifth centuries CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pomponius Mela on peoples of the known world (mid-first century CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Aristotle theorizes the meaning of physical features (third century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Skylax (fourth century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Pseudo-Skymnos’ Voyage Around the Earth for Nikomedes in full (mid-second century BCE)

Mediterranean peoples: Roman coins [part 1] on defeat, capture, and subjugation (first century BCE on)

Mediterranean peoples: Roman coins [part 3] on kneeling in supplication or adoration (first century BCE on)

Mediterranean peoples: Sextus Empiricus engages with ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (second-third centuries CE)

Mediterranean peoples: Vitruvius on the effects of climate (first century BCE)

Persian and Babylonian wisdom: Pseudo-Demokritos and others on Demokritos’ training by Magians and Chaldeans (first century BCE on)

Persian, Egyptian, Indian, and Celtic wisdom: Dio of Prusa on philosophers’ roles in leadership (late first century CE)

Persians, Celts, Thracians, and others: Polyainos on “tricky” barbarians (mid-second century CE)

Phoenicians and Sardinians: Cicero’s ethnic invective in defending Marcus Scaurus (mid-first century BCE)

Romans, Egyptians, Persians, and others: Minucius Felix’s ethnographic defence of the Christian people (early third century CE)

Scythians and Ethiopians: Agatharchides and Diodoros theorize about the effects of climate (second-first centuries CE)

Thracians, Galatians, Daans, and others: Polybios on the mixed composition of the armies of Ptolemy IV and Antiochos III (second century BCE)

Thracians, Scythians, and others: Anonymous author on opposing views and the relativity of what is shameful or good (mid-fourth century BCE [?])

Troglodytes: Graffiti and inscriptions from the Red Sea area thanking Pan / Min for rescue from Cave-dwellers (second century BCE)