Category Archives: Libyans / Africans

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

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

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

Barbarian wisdom: Cornutus on early humanity’s Stoic understanding of the cosmos (mid-first century CE)

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

Egyptian and Ethiopian diasporas: Diodoros on competing legends of migration and colonization (mid-first century BCE)

Egyptians, Ethiopians, Indians and others: Depictions of “pygmies” in Greek and Roman art (fifth century BCE-first century CE)

Egyptians: Attic vase paintings, Isocrates and others on king Bousiris and human sacrifice (fifth century BCE on)

Egyptians: Herodotos on customs and legendary kings (fifth 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: Dalion on paradoxical peoples (mid-third century BCE)

Ethiopians: Herodotos on southern peoples at the ends of the earth (mid-fifth century BCE)

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

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

Indians, Ethiopians, and Iberians: Poseidonios and Strabo on Eudoxos of Kyzikos’ expeditions (first centuries BCE and CE)

Judeans, Africans, and Germans: Columella on the limits of environmental theory (first century CE)

Judeans: Strabo on decline after Moses and banditry (early first century CE)

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

Libyan perspectives: Juba of Numidia on ethnographic matters (late first century BCE)

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 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: Aelian on Libyan views and customs about animals (late second century CE)

Libyans: Dio Cassius and others on Domitian’s annihilation of Nasamonians (early third century CE)

Libyans: Dionysios of Mytilene and Diodoros on competing claims about the god Dionysos (third / mid-first century BCE)

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)

Libyans: Herodotos on customs and colonization (fifth century BCE)

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

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: 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, Libyans, Egyptians and others: Acts of the Apostles on legends of Judean migration (early second 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)

Phoenician diasporas: Timaios of Tauromenion, Trogus, and Appian on Tyrians, on the founding of Carthage and on child sacrifice (first century BCE)

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)

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

Romans: Strabo on Roman superiority and conquest of peoples (early first century CE)

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

Syrians, Persians, Indians, Libyans, and others: Hekataios of Miletos on peoples of Asia (sixth century BCE)