Category Archives: (c) Western peoples

Arkadians: Polybios theorizes environment and peoplehood (second century BCE)

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)

Baliaridians and other barbarian peoples off Iberia: Diodoros on their paradoxical customs (mid-first century BCE)

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

Celtiberians, Iberians, and Lusitanians: Diodoros on their customs and military skill (mid-first century BCE)

Celts, Iberians, and Libyans: Polybios on the mixed composition of Hannibal of Carthage’s army and on military equipment (second century BCE)

Celts: Livy on legends of the Gauls’ fourth century BCE migrations and an invasion of Rome (late first century BCE)

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

Europeans and Asians: Pseudo-Hippokrates on humoural and environmental theories (fifth century BCE)

Europeans, Asians, and Greeks: Aristotle on hierarchies, slaves, and environmental determinism (fourth century BCE)

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

Iapygians and Tarentines: Klearchos of Soloi (fourth century BCE)

Iberians and others: Avienus on a journey along the southern coast of Spain (mid-fourth century CE)

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

Iberians: Appian of Alexandria on Viriathus and resistance by Lusitanians (second century CE)

Iberians: Artemidoros, Poseidonios, Strabo, and others (second century BCE to first century CE)

Iberians: Diodoros on Viriathus and the Lusitanians’ resistance to Roman rule (mid-first century BCE)

Iberians: Trogus on their extreme courage (first century BCE)

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

Italian and Roman diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Italic peoples: Strabo on Latins, Sabines, Samnites, Umbrians, Lucanians, and others (early first century CE)

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

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)

Ligurians: Diodoros on their harsh environment, hard work and noble spirit (mid-first century BCE)

Lydian diasporas: Herodotos, Timaios of Tauromenion, and others on legends of migration to Tyrrhenia (late fourth century BCE on)

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: 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-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 2] on humiliated captives kneeling or on the ground (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)

Parthians, Celts and Iberians or Germans: Scenes on the breastplate of the “Augustus of Prima Porta” (early first century CE)

People on an idyllic island in the Atlantic off Libya: Diodoros on their natural resources and on Carthaginian colonization plans (mid-first century BCE)

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

Persians, Tyrrhenians and Lycians: Plutarch on brave women and effeminate men (early second century CE)

Romans: Diodoros on Herakles’ journey to Rome before Rome (mid-first century BCE)

Romans: Dionysios on Roman origins, Italic peoples, and legends of Greek and Pelasgian migrations to Italy (late first century BCE)

Romans: Dionysios on the supposed Roman refusal of barbarian and Phrygian customs (late first century BCE)

Sikelians, Sikanians, Sardinians and Iolaeians: Diodoros on ancient migrations and local customs on Sicily (mid-first century BCE)

Tyrrhenians: Theopompos on the Etruscans’ supposed sexual deviance and freedom (mid-fourth century BCE)

Western peoples beyond the pillars of Herakles (and up): Lucian’s “A True Story” and ethnographic fiction (late second century CE)