Category Archives: ancient ethnography / ethnographic culture

Agatharchides of Knidos: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Aitolians: Ephoros on their origins and invincibility (mid-fourth century BCE)

Aitolians: Thucydides on barbarous Greeks (late fifth century BCE)

Amalekites: Josephos and Philo on a prototypical arch-enemy people (first century CE)

Amazons: Curtius Rufus on Alexander’s relationship with Thalestris (first century CE)

Amazons: Greek artistic depictions of a female warrior people (fourth century BCE to second century CE)

Amazons: Strabo on their customs and northern location (late first century CE)

Arabians / Nabateans: Diodoros on Nabatean customs and freedom (mid-first century BCE)

Arabians and Aramaians: Poseidonios on relations between eastern peoples (first century BCE)

Arabians: Herodotos on deities and lifestyle (late fifth century BCE)

Arabians: Pseudo-Nilus on barbarian bandits and Saracens in the Sinai desert (early fifth century CE)

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

Armenians / Parthians: Statue of the client king Tiridates I in the Louvre (66 CE)

Asian Albanians, Iberians, Mardians and others: Demodamas and Pliny the Elder on peoples in the Caucasus region and further east (third century BCE / first century CE)

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

Assyrian wisdom: The Kyranides on a journey to learn from a foreign inscription (fourth century CE or earlier)

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

Assyrians, Medes and Persians: Ktesias on Persian Matters via Diodoros and Photios (early fourth century BCE)

Assyrians: Trogus on the achievements of Ninos and Semiramis and on the extreme effeminacy of Sardanapalus (first century BCE)

Atlantians: Dionysios of Mytilene and Diodoros on supposed Atlantian stories about the earliest kings / gods (third / mid-first century BCE)

Babylonian perspectives: Bel-re’ushu / Berossos on the origins of civilization (late fourth century BCE)

Babylonian wisdom: Lucian’s Menippos visits Mithrobarzanes the Chaldean / Magian wise man (late second century CE)

Babylonians and Assyrians: Herodotos on legendary queens and outstanding customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Babylonians: Diodoros on Chaldeans’ astrology and divination (mid-first century BCE)

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 and Judean wisdom: Clement of Alexandria [V] on the sources of Plato’s thought (late second century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Celsus and Origen of Alexandria (second-third centuries CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Clement of Alexandria [VI] on barbarian and Hebrew philosophy (late second century CE)

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

Barbarian wisdom: Dio of Prusa on barbarians’ innate knowledge of god (late first century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Porphyry of Tyre’s Neoplatonic perspective (third century CE)

Barbarian wisdom: Poseidonios on inventors of the golden age (first century BCE)

Barbarian wisdom: The Thunder, Perfect Mind (before the fourth century CE)

Barbarians and Greeks: Dionysios theorizes the blurry lines (late first century BCE)

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

Barbarians and Greeks: Thucydides theorizes the shift from barbarian banditry to settled civilization (late fifth century BCE)

Barbarians: Modern colonial repurposing of images of captives

Boiotians: Ephoros on the superiority of Boiotia and on a Phoenician connection (mid-fourth century BCE)

Britons and Iernians (Irish): Julius Caesar, Pytheas, and Strabo on customs including eating human flesh (early first century CE)

Britons, Armenians, Bessians, and others: Reliefs of subjugated peoples at Aphrodisias (first century CE)

Britons: Diodoros on a simple way of life (mid-first century BCE)

Britons: Julius Caesar (mid-first century BCE)

Britons: Tacitus (late first century CE)

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

Celtic diasporas: Galatian mercenaries settled at Alexandria in Egypt (ca. 250-200 BCE)

Celts and Germans: Diodoros, Dionysios, Strabo, and Dio on distinguishing them (first centuries BCE and CE)

Celts and Germans: Plutarch’s ethnographic digressions in the Lives (early second century CE)

Celts and Ligurians: Strabo on peoples south of the Alps (early first century CE)

Celts, Persians, and Amazons: Smaller statues of fighting and dying “barbarians” associated with Attalos of Pergamon (third-second century BCE / second century CE)

Celts: Cicero on Gauls and the link between imperial conquest and negative stereotypes (mid-first century BCE)

Celts: Cicero’s ethnic invective against Gauls in defending Fonteius (mid-first century BCE)

Celts: Dio Cassius on spirited and untrustworthy Galatians (early third century CE)

Celts: Ephoros (mid-fourth century BCE)

Celts: Julius Caesar on Druids and supposed human sacrifice among Gauls (mid-first century BCE)

Celts: Parthenios on wife abductions in the Galatian invasion (first century BCE)

Celts: Phylarchos and Poseidonios on banqueting and violent customs (first century BCE)

Celts: Pliny the Elder on medicine, rites and Magian skill among Druids (first century CE)

Celts: Pliny the Elder on three Roman subdivisions of Gaul (first century CE)

Celts: Polybios on the Celtic encounter with Rome and on his method in dealing with distant peoples (second century BCE)

Celts: Statues of dying Gauls / Galatians associated with Attalos I of Pergamon (late third century BCE / second century CE)

Celts: Strabo on peoples northwest of the Alps (early first century CE)

Celts: Thyatira inscription for a son rescued by the god Apollo out from under “the mob of Galatians” (276 BCE)

Celts: Timagenes of Alexandria and Ammianus Marcellinus on Celtic origins and customs (first century BCE / fourth century CE)

Celts: Trogus on Gallic invasions and character (first century BCE)

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

Christians, Judeans, and Greeks: Christians as a descent group in the Epistle to Diognetos (second or third century CE)

Cilicians: Plutarch on the foreign “pirates” threatening Roman ways (early-second century CE)

Clement of Alexandria: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Cretans and Cilicians: Athenians, Rhodians, and Romans pair “banditry” with imperial control (fifth-second centuries BCE)

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

Cretans: Ephoros on civic organization and customs (mid-fourth century BCE)

Cretans: Stereotypes in the letter to Titus (early second century CE)

Curtius Rufus: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Daans, Kadousians, Hyrkanians, and Sakians: Strabo on peoples east of the Caspian Sea (first century CE)

Dacians and Sarmatians: Reliefs on Trajan’s Column celebrating subjugation (early second century CE)

Dacians and Sarmatians: Reliefs on Trajan’s Trophy at Adamclisi, Romania (early second century CE)

Dacians: Frieze of Trajan’s conquest reused on the so-called Arch of Constantine (likely 107 CE or after)

Eastern and northern peoples: Bardaisan of Edessa’s Book of the Laws of Countries and the Pseudo-Clementines on astrology and peoples (second-third centuries CE)

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

Egyptian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Egyptian diasporas: Manetho, Josephos and others on legends of migration concerning Hyksos and Judeans (third century BCE and on)

Egyptian perspectives: Chairemon on Egyptian temple functionaries (first century CE)

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

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

Egyptian, Pheonician, and Phrygian wisdom: Ephoros on inventors (mid-fourth century BCE)

Egyptians and Canaanites: Wisdom of Solomon on worship of animals and images (first century BCE)

Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Phoenicians: Julius Africanus on competitive chronologies (ca. 222 CE)

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

Egyptians: Achilles Tatius and Dio Cassius on man-eating cowherds / bandits (second-third century CE)

Egyptians: Aelian on Egyptian views and customs about animals and animal-worship (late second century CE)

Egyptians: Clement of Alexandria [II] on Egyptian animal worship as less offensive than Greek customs (late second century CE)

Egyptians: Dio Cassius’ speech by Octavian on the “effeminate” Antony (early third century CE)

Egyptians: Diodoros on the origins of civilization and on Egyptian views (mid-first century BCE)

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

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

Egyptians: Josephos on the envy of an inferior people (last-first century CE)

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: Agatharchides and Diodoros on lifestyles and diets in the extreme south (second-first centuries BCE)

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

Ethiopians: Diodoros on their claims, appearance, and customs (mid-first century BCE)

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

Ethnic diversity in Alexandria: Dio of Prusa on the cross-roads of the world (late first century CE)

Ethnic diversity in Egypt: Inscriptional and papyrological evidence

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

Ethnic diversity on Rhodes island: Inscriptional evidence

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

Europeans, Africans, and Asians: Pliny the Elder on the framework for his ethnographic survey and on the superiority of Europeans (first century CE)

Europeans, Asians, and Greeks: Aristotle on environment, ethnic hierarchies, and slaves (fourth century BCE)

Gauls and Germans: Scenes from the Triumphal Arch of Orange (late first century BCE)

Germanic peoples: Tacitus’ Germania in full (late first century CE)

Germans and Sarmatians: Josephos on impulsive and violent northerners (late first century CE)

Germans and Scythians: Seneca on enduring hardships and on anger (first century CE)

Germans, Suebians, Marcomannians, and Kimbrians: Poseidonios and Strabo on customs and rumours about the tides (first century BCE)

Germans: Julius Caesar (mid-first century BCE)

Germans: Philo of Alexandria on fighting the tides (first century CE)

Getians, Dacians, and Scythians: Strabo (early first century CE)

Greeks and Judeans: “Hellenizing” and “Judaizing” in 2 Maccabees (first century BCE)

Greeks and other peoples: Paul’s Judean stereotypes about non-Judeans (mid-first century CE)

Greeks, Barbarians, Judeans, and Christians: Eusebios’ framing of a way of life (early fourth century CE)

Herodotos of Halikarnassos: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Huns and Alans: Ammianus Marcellinus on “savage” nomadic threats (late fourth century CE)

Hyperboreans: Herodotos, Hekataios, Diodoros, and others on a legendary northern people (four century BCE to third century CE)

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

Iberians, Albanians and others of the Caucasus area: Strabo (early first century CE)

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

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

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

Ichthyophagians: Nearchos and Agatharchides on Fish-eaters around the Arabian Sea (fourth-first centuries BCE)

Idumeans and Judeans: Ptolemy the historian on the difference (late first century BCE)

Idumeans: Josephos on the Edomites’ origins and relations with Judeans (late first century CE)

Illyrians, Pannonians, and other peoples: Strabo (early first century CE)

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

Illyrians: Theopompos on banquets (fourth century BCE)

Indian and Judean wisdom: Klearchos citing Aristotle (fourth century BCE)

Indian wisdom: Apuleius on the amazing naked philosophers and Pythagoras’ journeys (mid-second century CE)

Indian wisdom: Josephos integrates Indians into Eleazar’s Masada speech (late first century CE)

Indian wisdom: Naked philosophers and wise diviners in the Alexander Romance (fourth century CE and earlier)

Indian wisdom: Nearchos, Megasthenes, and Arrian on the sages Dandamis and Kalanos (fourth century BCE-second century CE)

Indian wisdom: Philostratos on Apollonios of Tyana’s journeys to barbarian lands (early third century CE)

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

Indians, Ethiopians, Celts, and Scythians: Ephoros on a four-fold division of the known world (mid-fourth century BCE)

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

Indians: Diodoros on environment, customs and social organization (mid-first century BCE)

Indians: Greek representations of conquest on coins with Alexander of Macedon and Demetrios of Baktria wearing elephant skins (fourth-second century BCE)

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

Indians: Iamboulos and Diodoros on a utopian island beyond India (mid-first century BCE)

Indians: Ktesias on Indian Matters via Photios, Pliny the Elder, and Aelian (early fourth century BCE)

Indians: Nearchos, Megasthenes, and Arrian (fourth century BCE-second century CE)

Indians: Palladios and George on naked philosophers or Brahmans (fourth / ninth centuries CE)

Italian and Roman diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

Itureans among Arabians: Strabo and Josephos on a supposed bandit-people (first century CE)

Josephos of Jerusalem: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Judean and Israelite diasporas: Inscriptional evidence (second century BCE-third century CE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos on conflicts in Babylonia, ca. 40-66 CE (late first century CE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos on tensions with Greeks in Syria, the Decapolis, and Alexandria ca. 59-66 CE (late first century CE)

Judean diasporas: Josephos’ citation of documents on Asia Minor and Libya under Julius Caesar and Augustus (late first century CE)

Judean diasporas: Philo on conflicts with Greeks at Alexandria and on rebellious Egyptians (mid-first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Anonymous on Abraham’s contributions (before the mid-first century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Aristoboulos on Moses and the Judean god as source for Plato and Pythagoras (mid-second century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Artapanos on contributions by Abraham, Joseph, and Moses (second century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Eupolemos on contributions by Abraham and Moses (before the mid-first century BCE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos on Abraham’s dissemination of astrological knowledge (late-first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos on philosophical sects among Judeans (late-first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos on Solomon as the ultimate wise man, controller of lower spirits, and healer (late-first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos’ Against Apion in full (late first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Josephos’ self-presentation as the optimum wise Judean (late-first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Philo on the superiority of Moses and Judean ancestral customs (first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Philo on the Therapeutists’ lifestyle (first century CE)

Judean wisdom: Pseudo-Clementines on Abraham the astrologer and legends of migration (second-fourth centuries CE)

Judean wisdom: Testament of Solomon on Solomon’s superiority in controlling lower spirits and in healing (first-third century CE)

Judean wisdom: Theophrastos on Judean philosophers (fourth century BCE)

Judean, Indian, Babylonian, and Egyptian wisdom: Numenius the Platonic philosopher (mid-second century CE)

Judean, Persian, and Indian wisdom: Philo on the freedom of Essenes and Kalanos (early first century CE)

Judeans and Celts: Various authors on Claudius’ actions against foreigners in the 40s CE (second / third centuries CE

Judeans and others: The Gospel of Philip (before the fourth century CE)

Judeans and Thracians: Hermippos of Smyrna on their influence on Pythagoras (early second century BCE)

Judeans, “Asiatics”, and Greeks: Cicero’s ethnic invective aimed at eastern witnesses against Flaccus (mid-first century BCE)

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

Judeans, Egyptians, and Magians: Various authors on Tiberius’ actions against foreign practices 17-19 CE (first-third centuries CE)

Judeans, Egyptians, and others: Seneca on the “superstitions” of foreigners (mid-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)

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 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: Poseidonios (?) and Strabo on decline after Moses (first century 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: Tacitus on Judean origins and customs (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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

Lydians: Herodotos on king Croesus and Lydian customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

Lydians: Xanthos of Lydia and Klearchos of Soloi (fifth-fourth centuries 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)

Mediterranean peoples: Artemidoros theorizes foreign elements in dreams (second century 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: Polemon theorizes the meaning of physical features (second / fifth centuries 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: Sextus Empiricus engages with ethnographic discourses for philosophical aims (second-third centuries CE)

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

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, Cilicians, Galatians, and Thracians: Polybios on the mixed composition of Antiochos IV Epiphanes’ army (second century BCE)

New scholarly article: Harland, “Subject Peoples and Civilizational Priority: Competition among Babylonians, Egyptians, and Judeans in the Hellenistic Era”

New scholarly article: Maia Kotrosits, “The Ethnography of Gender” (2023)

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

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, Medes, and Babylonians: Pliny the Elder (first century CE)

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

Parthians: Curtius Rufus on their Scythian origins (first 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)

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 (mid-fifth century BCE)

Pelasgians: Strabo on a legendary migrating people (early first century CE)

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

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

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

Persian wisdom: Plutarch’s story about Kleombrotos’ journeys (early second 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 Egyptians: Pseudo-Clementines on the origins and nature of Magian skill (second-fourth centuries CE)

Persians and Medes: Herakleides of Kyme, Klearchos of Soloi, and others on royal banquets (fourth century BCE)

Persians and Medes: Herodotos on customs (mid-fifth century BCE)

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

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

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

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

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

Persians: God Mithras as a Roman representation of a Persian (second century CE)

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

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

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

Phoenician diasporas: Ephoros on Kadmos and legends of migration to Boiotia (mid-fourth 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: Damascius on Eudemos of Rhodes and Mochos of Sidon (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: Gospel of Mark on Jesus and a Syro-Phoenician woman (late first century CE)

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

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

Pliny the Elder: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

Pompeius Trogus: A guide for reading ethnographic passages

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

Samaritans and Judeans: Belonging to Israel in the Gospels (first century CE)

Sarmatians and others: Pliny the Elder on peoples of northwestern Asia (first 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)

Scholarly articles on ethnic relations and migration

Scythian and Thracian diasporas: Inscriptional evidence

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