Category Archives: (12) Ancient media and authors

Judeans, Syrians, Indians, and others: Porphyry of Tyre on abstinence from meat (third century CE)

Judeans: Agatharchides of Knidos on the Sabbath (second century BCE)

Judeans: Dio Cassius on customs and Roman elite attitudes (early third century CE)

Judeans: Hekataios, pseudo-Hekataios and Diodoros on Judean origins and migration with the exodus (first century BCE)

Judeans: Ignatius on Judaizing and Christianizing (early second century CE)

Judeans: Kleomedes denigrates Epicurus and Judeans (second century CE)

Judeans: Manetho, Chairemon, and Lysimachos on an alternative Exodus (third century BCE on)

Judeans: Mnaseas, Poseidonios, Apollonios Molon, Diodoros, Apion, and Damokritos on the statue of a donkey and on human sacrifice (second century BCE and on)

Judeans: Pliny the Elder and Julius Solinus on the Essenes beside the Dead Sea (first / third centuries CE)

Judeans: Pseudo-Hekataios’ On Judeans (pre-first century CE)

Judeans: Reliefs on the Arch for Titus depicting temple treasures and defeat (late first century CE)

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

Judeans: Tacitus on Judean origins and customs and on the revolt(second century CE)

Judeans: Trogus on contributions of Joseph and Moses and on the exodus (first century BCE)

Judeans: Valerius Maximus on the 139 BCE expulsion with “Chaldeans” (early first century CE)

Karmanians, Ichthyophagians, and others: Nearchos, Onesikritos, Juba, and Pliny on the area around the Persian Gulf and Red Sea (fourth century BCE-first century CE)

Kimmerian diasporas: Ephoros on legends about Avernus in Italy (mid-fourth century BCE)

Kimmerians and Kolchians: Herodotos on other Pontic peoples (mid-fifth century BCE)

Kolchians, Heniochians, Drillians, and others: Arrian on his journey along the Black Sea coast near the Caucasus mountains (ca. 131-132 CE)

Lelegians and Carians: Philip of Theangela on civilized Carians and savage Lelegians (third century BCE)

Lelegians: Plutarch on Greek Trallians’ treatment of indigenous peoples (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)

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 / 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, 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: Eratosthenes, Artemidoros, and Strabo on peoples and customs (early first century CE)

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

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

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

Lycians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians: Strabo contrasts civilized and uncivilized peoples in southern Anatolia (early first century CE)

Lycians: Menekrates of Xanthos and Polycharmos on Lycian origins and the practice of fish-divination (late fifth century BCE on)

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

Lydians, Maionians, Arimians, and Solymians: Strabo on a variety of peoples in Lydia, Phrygia and Pisidia (early first century CE)

Lydians: Diodoros on materialistic Croesus, consultation of Anacharsis and other sages, and Persian conquest (mid-first century BCE)

Lydians: Xanthos of Lydia on kings and luxurious customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Maiotians, Bosporians, Kaukasians, and other Pontic peoples: Strabo on northern Asia (early first century CE)

Mardians among Persians: Curtius Rufus on Alexander’s conquest of an uncivilized cave people (first century CE)

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

Medes: Diodoros on Datis and legends of an Athenian-Median connection (mid-first 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: Diodoros, Pliny and Plutarch on Pompey’s subjugation of peoples of the world (mid-first century BCE on)

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: 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 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)

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

Midianites and Moabites / Arabians: Josephos and Philo on intermixing and the dangers of acculturation (first century CE)

Mossynoikians in Pontos: Xenophon and others on the “most barbarous” people (early fourth century BCE)

Mysians / Moesians: Poseidonios on their identification and customs based on Homer (first century BCE)

Mysians, Galatians, Pisidians, and others: Strabo on relations among Anatolian peoples (early first century CE)

Northern peoples: Antonios Diogenes’ “Wonders Beyond Thule” and ethnographic fiction (second century CE / ninth century CE)

Northern peoples: Inscriptions on barbarians as bandits (second-third centuries CE)

Panchaians: Euhemeros and Diodoros on a noble people worshipping Zeus on a utopian island (fourth / first century BCE)

Parthians and Arabians: Isidoros of Charax and the imperial purposes of geographic and ethnographic information (late first century BCE)

Parthians and Scythians: Julius Africanus on barbarian military techniques (early third century CE)

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

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

Parthians: Arrian on their Scythian origins (second century CE)

Parthians: Curtius Rufus on their Scythian origins (first century CE)

Parthians: Dio Cassius on their empire and military customs (early third century CE)

Parthians: Panamara inscription on Zeus’ miraculous actions against invading Parthians (ca. 39 BCE)

Parthians: Poseidonios on royal banquets (first century BCE)

Parthians: Scenes from the Arch of Septimius Severus (early third century CE)

Parthians: Strabo on Scythian origins and military success (early first century CE)

Parthians: Trogus on the origins and developments of an empire (first century BCE)

Pelasgian diasporas: Ephoros on legends of migration (mid-fourth century BCE)

Pelasgian diasporas: Hekataios of Miletos and Herodotos on legends of migration, language, and influence (sixth century BCE)

Pelasgians, Lelegians, and others: Hekataios of Miletos and Strabo on barbarians of Greece (sixth century BCE on)

Pelasgians: Strabo on a legendary migrating people (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)

Peoples of Arachosia and Ariana: Pliny the Elder on peoples between Baktria and India (first century CE)

Persian / Hyperborean wisdom: Anonymous author on Gobryas the Magian and the bronze tablets about death and judgment (first century BCE)

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

Persian diasporas: Pseudo-Clement, Eusebios, Epiphanios, and Basil on the Magusaeans and their customs (third century CE on)

Persian wisdom: Aelian on the Magians’ predictions about the savage Artaxerxes III (late second century)

Persian wisdom: Ammianus Marcellinus on Zoroaster, Hystaspes, and the Magians (late fourth century CE)

Persian wisdom: Aristoxenos of Tarentum on Pythagoras and Zoroaster (late fourth century BCE)

Persian wisdom: Celsus and Origen on Magians and on Moses and Jesus as howlers of chants (second-third centuries CE)

Persian wisdom: Celsus on mysteries of Mithras as a source of ancient wisdom (mid-second century CE)

Persian wisdom: Euboulos and Porphyry of Tyre on Zoroaster and the cave (third century CE)

Persian wisdom: Eudemos of Rhodes on Magians (fourth century BCE)

Persian wisdom: Herakleides of Pontos on the Magian who circumnavigated Libya (mid-fourth century BCE)

Persian wisdom: Lactantius and others on the Oracles of Hystaspes the Mede (third century CE)

Persian wisdom: Theopompos of Chios and Plutarch on Magians and Zoroaster (fourth century BCE and later)

Persian, Babylonian, and Scythian wisdom: Diogenes of Laertes refutes Magian and Chaldean origins for Greek philosophy (early third century CE)

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

Persian, Indian, and Judean wisdom: Klearchos of Soloi on Magian precedence (fourth century BCE)

Persians and Medes: Douris, Herakleides, Klearchos, and others on royal banquets (fifth-fourth centuries BCE)

Persians and Medes: Thucydides on Medizing (late-fifth century BCE)

Persians and neighbouring eastern peoples: Ammianus Marcellinus on Persian territories and lifestyles (late fourth century CE)

Persians and peoples in their territory: Strabo on their customs and on bandit peoples (early first century CE)

Persians, Babylonians, and Egyptians: Pseudo-Clementines on Zoroaster and the origins of Magian skill (second-fourth centuries CE)

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

Persians, Hyrkanians, Armenians, Derbikians and others: Curtius Rufus on the mixed composition of the army of Darius III (first century CE)

Persians, Spartans, and Athenians: Platonic author on the superiority of the Persians (fourth century BCE)

Persians, Thracians, and Amazons: Isocrates on Athenian superiority and barbarian weakness (fourth century BCE)

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

Persians: Acts of Archelaos on Mani’s foreignness (early fourth century CE)

Persians: Aeschylus on “barbarian” hierarchy, luxury, and emotionalism (472 BCE)

Persians: Agathias on the divergent customs of Zoroaster’s Magians (sixth century CE and earlier)

Persians: Apion of Alexandria on Pases the Magian (first century CE)

Persians: Apuleius of Madaura’s defence against the charge of harmful Magian actions (ca. 158 CE)

Persians: Cattulus’ poem smearing Magians as incestuous (early first century BCE)

Persians: Clement of Alexandria [IV] on the elements among Greek philosophers and Persian Magians (late second century CE)

Persians: Curtius Rufus on military processions and royal luxury (first century CE)

Persians: Deinon, Chrysippos, and Cicero on their character and customs (third century BCE / mid-first century BCE)

Persians: Derveni papyrus on the activities of Magians (ca. 400 BCE)

Persians: Dio of Prusa on Magians and a supposedly Zoroastrian myth (late first century CE)

Persians: Diodoros on expansionism and arrogance of Persian kings (mid-first century BCE)

Persians: Emperor Diocletian on strange and monstrous Manicheans (ca. 300 CE)

Persians: Heresy-hunters on Simon Magus and other Magians (second-third centuries CE)

Persians: Hippokratic author on the “sacred” disease and Magian attempts at healing (ca. 400 BCE)

Persians: Irenaeus on Marcus the Valentinian Magian (late second century CE)

Persians: Matthew and Luke-Acts on two contrasting approaches to Magians (late first century CE)

Persians: Maximus of Tyre on “barbarizing” and the excesses of royal pleasure (late second century CE)

Persians: Philo on true Magian skill and its criminal counterfeit (early first century CE)

Persians: Plato on Persian decline into effeminacy and tyranny (early fourth century BCE)

Persians: Pliny on the dissemination of Magian skill to the peoples of the world (first century CE)

Persians: Suda on Zoroaster and on expertise in Magian practice, howling chants, and potions (tenth century CE)

Persians: Trogus, Diodoros, and Curtius Rufus on Alexander of Macedon’s decline into eastern ways (first century BCE on)

Persians: Varro on Pythagoras’ and Numa’s adoption of Persian forms of divination (first century BCE / early fifth century CE)

Persians: Vitruvius theorizes about Greek depictions of enemies in architectural contexts (first century BCE)

Persians: Xanthos on the Magians’ supposed incest and on Zoroaster’s date (mid-fifth century BCE)

Persians: Xenophon and an anonymous author on royal customs and Cyrus (early fourth century BCE / second century BCE)

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

Phoenician perspectives: Philo of Byblos on “Phoenician Matters” (early second century CE)

Phoenician wisdom: Ampelius on Mochos of Sidon (early-third century CE)

Phoenician wisdom: Eudemos of Rhodes and Mochos of Sidon on the universe (fourth century BCE)

Phoenician wisdom: Strabo and Poseidonios on Mochos of Sidon (first century BCE)

Phoenician, Egyptian and Babylonian wisdom: Porphyry of Tyre and Antonius Diogenes on Pythagoras (third century CE)

Phoenician, Egyptian and Persian wisdom: Iamblichos of Chalkis on Pythagoras (fourth century CE)

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

Phoenicians: Dion and Menander on competition between Tyrian and Israelite kings (before the late first century CE)

Phoenicians: Gospel of Mark on Jesus and a Syro-Phoenician woman (late first century CE)

Phoenicians: Herodotos on customs and colonizing efforts (fifth century BCE)

Phoenicians: Strabo on the achievements of Tyrians and Sidonians (early first century CE)

Phrygians: Alexander Polyhistor, Hermogenes, and others on Phrygian Matters (first century BCE on)

Phrygians: Diodoros on Battakes the priest of the great Mother visiting Rome (mid-first century BCE)

Phrygians: Euripides’ cowardly and inferior easterner via the slave character in Orestes (408 BCE)

Pontic peoples: Phlyarchos on traits and customs of Thibians and Scythians (early second century BCE)

Pontic peoples: Tertullian on the Pontic “barbarian” Marcion (late second century CE)

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

Romans: Ammianus Marcellinus on the danger of decline into uncivilized lifestyles (late fourth 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)

Romans: Livy, Pliny, Plutarch, and Dio on Roman human sacrifice of Gauls and Greeks (late first century BCE on)

Romans: Rabbis on four successive imperial powers – Babylonians, Medes, Greeks, Romans (fifth century CE and earlier)

Romans: Strabo concludes on their dominance and superiority (early first century CE)

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

Samaritans: Josephos on Cuthean origins and relations with Judeans over centuries (late first century CE)

Sarmatians, Huns, and Goths: Olympiodoros of Thebes on statues as protection against invasions (early fifth century CE)

Sarmatians, Marcomannians, Quadians, and Iazygians: Reliefs on Marcus Aurelius’ column including women and children (176-193 CE)

Sarmatians: Tacitus on ferocity and laziness in military situations (early second century CE)

Scythian and Thracian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Scythian wisdom: Curtius Rufus on the Scythian elder’s speech about Alexander the bandit (first century CE)

Scythian wisdom: Letters of Anacharsis on wise barbarians (mid-third century BCE)

Scythian wisdom: Plutarch on Anacharsis at the dinner of the seven sages (early second century CE)

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

Scythians and Getians: Dio of Prusa on inter-ethnic encounters at Olbia and on Getian Matters (late first century CE)

Scythians and other northern peoples: Ephoros (mid-fourth century BCE)

Scythians and other Pontic peoples: Herodotos on the “most ignorant peoples of all” (fifth century BCE)

Scythians and Thracians: Hekataios of Miletos on European peoples (sixth century BCE)

Scythians, Amazons, and Hyperboreans: Diodoros on some northerners (mid-first century BCE)

Scythians, Amazons, and Persians: Isocrates on the superiority of the Athenian people (early fourth century BCE)

Scythians, Germans, and others: Pliny the Elder on peoples on the western and northern coasts of the Black Sea (first century CE)

Scythians, Thracians, Celts, and Persians: Plato on heavy-drinking and war-like peoples (early fourth century BCE)

Scythians: Aischines’ ethnic invective against Demosthenes (mid-fourth century BCE)

Scythians: Alexander Polyhistor on Iamians and just Abians (mid-first century BCE)

Scythians: Clement of Alexandria [I] on the example of Anacharsis (late second century CE)

Scythians: Greek depictions of Scythian archers on Attic pottery (sixth century BCE)

Scythians: Klearchos of Soloi (fourth century BCE)

Scythians: Lucian on Toxaris’ and Anacharsis’ differing encounters with Greeks (late second century CE)

Scythians: Theopompos on a dish made from horses’ milk (mid-fourth century BCE)

Scythians: Trogus on Scythian superiority (first century BCE)

Serians (Chinese), Ottorokorians and others: Pliny the Elder on the savage silk people (first century CE)

Sicilians and other Greeks: Cicero’s praise for Sicilians in the prosecution of Verres (mid-first century BCE)

Sikelians, Sikanians, Phoenicians and Greeks: Thucydides on settlement of Sicily (late fifth century BCE)

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

Sogdians: Curtius Rufus on Alexander’s assessment of their noble and courageous character (first century CE)

Spartans and Judeans: First Maccabees’ and Josephos’ claims about kinship ties (ca. 100 BCE / ca. 90s CE)

Syrian and Phoenician diasporas: Inscriptional and archeological evidence

Syrian diasporas: Diodoros and Florus on Eunous of Apameia’s leadership of the slave rebellion on Sicily (mid-first century BCE / second century CE)

Syrian perspectives: Lucian of Samosata on The Syrian Goddess in full (mid-second century CE)

Syrian perspectives: Lucian self-identifies as “barbarian” and “Assyrian” (mid-second century CE)

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

Syrians: Apuleius on “effeminate” priests of Atargatis (late second century CE)

Taurians and Greeks: Clement of Alexandria [III] on human sacrifice (late second century CE)

Taurians and Kolchians: Diodoros on the origins of human sacrifice in the Black Sea area (mid-first century BCE)

Thracians and Odrysians: Thucydides on Thracians, power, and violence (late fifth century BCE)

Thracians and other Black Sea peoples: Ammianus Marcellinus on their “savage” character and on Roman control (late fourth century CE)

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

Thracians: Attic vase paintings depicting Thracian women with tattoos, warriors, and Orpheus (sixth-fifth centuries BCE)

Thracians: Charon of Lampsakos on relations between Bisaltians and Greek Kardians (mid-fifth century BCE)

Thracians: Diodoros on Dromichaites and Kotys as wise Thracian kings (mid-first century BCE)

Thracians: Diodoros on the cruelty and lawlessness of the kings Diegylis and Zibelmios (mid-first century BCE)

Thracians: Greeks and Thracians honouring the Thracian goddess Bendis (fifth-third centuries BCE)

Thracians: Tacitus on their uncivilized and wild nature (early second century CE)

Thracians: Theopompos on king Kotys I’s obsession with banquets (mid-fourth century BCE)

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

Trojans, Lelegians, and Kilikians: Homer and Strabo on legendary peoples and migrations of historical peoples in Anatolia (early first century CE)

Trojans, Teukrians, and Dardanians: Diodoros on their origins (mid-first century BCE)

Tyrrhenians: Diodoros on Etruscan inventions, lifestyle, and decline (mid-first century BCE)

Tyrrhenians: Strabo on Etruscans as a powerful “bandit” people (early first century CE)

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)