AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF THE TERMS Al810IP AND Al810llIA IN GREEK LITERATURE FROM HOMER TO LYCOPHRON. Adrian John Ryan Submitted in fulfilment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Classical Civilisation at the Department of Classics, University of Natal, Durban. 1997 11 Abstract The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with dark skinned people from Africa from an early stage. It has been generally accepted that such people were referred to as Ai9l01t£<; by the Greeks, and modem commentators have accepted the term to be a synonym of the English term 'Negro'. Such an assumption ignores the wide variety of connotations associated with the terms Ai9l0'l' and At9L01tlCX. Furthermore, the trend in scholarship in the field of race relations in antiquity has been to study the interaction between Greeks and foreigners based on implicit, and often invalid, theory. The aim of this study is to examine the uses of the terms Ai9l0'l' and At9L01tlCX in the context of Greek ideology. Previous studies in the field have employed naive semiological approaches to the issue of racism in Greece and Rome, whereby references to Negroes have simply been weighed up in order to determine the extent of negative attitude toward Negroes in antiquity. In this regard, the following study depart~ radically from the approaches of its predecessors in that, although it is not intended as a narrow linguistic study of the terms Ai9l0'l' and Ai9L01tlCX, the focus of the examination concerns the semantics of these terms and the connotations thereof. Through an analysis of these terms in their ideological context, not only do we gain an insight into the processes which underlie Greek perceptions of group boundaries, but we may gain a deeper understanding of our own perceptions of race and racism. The study is confined to pre-Hellenistic literature (although later works are often used to illuminate Classical and Archaic passages) since it was the perceptions of the authors from this period which shaped the ideas of subsequent authors. In addition, during the Hellenistic period, the focus of Greek literary activity shifted from Athens to Alexandria, allowing Hellenistic authors far more contact with Negroes than was enjoyed by their predecessors. For the purpose of this study, Lycophron's Alexandria has been assumed to be the last pre-Hellenistic work, although this point may be debatable. 1lJ Declaration I, Adrian John Ryan, hereby declare that the work submitted is entirely my own unless so indicated in the text, and that no part of this work has been submitted for a degree at any other University. Signature ~~__ iv Preface The aim of this study is to examine the meaning of the terms Ai8io'l' and Ai8t01tia as they were used by Greek authors from Homer to Lycophron. Although the denotative meanings of the terms and the various senses in which they were used form an integral part of this study, the primary focus is on connotative meaning, specifically on the construct of the Ethiopians in the Greek mind and the various connotations associated with them in the context of Greek geographical, religious and socio-political thought. It seems appropriate to mention the various conventions employed throughout the study before the introduction in which they are used. The terms Ai8tO'I' and A t9t01tia are used throughout exclusively to denote the sign vehicles or signifiers used by the Greeks to refer to the Ethiopians. Similarly, 'Ethiopian' and 'Ethiopia' are used to refer to the construct encoded by the sign vehicles Ai8io'l' and Ai9t01tia respectively. The terms 'Black', 'Coloured' and 'White' refer to the modem social constructs while 'Negro', 'Negroid', 'mulatto' and 'Caucasian' refer to people of these somatic types respectively. The term 'Negro' is used of people with pronounced Negroid features, whereas Negroid describes both mulattos and Negroes. As regards dates, 'Archaic' will be used to refer to the period from the end of the dark ages to c.480 BC, while 'Classical' refers to the period which roughly coincided with the Athenian domination of the Mediterranean, from c.480 BC to the end of the fourth century BC. Authors who wrote after the period with which this study is concerned are referred to as 'later' authors. 'Late authors' will be used exclusively to refer to authors writing after the first century AD. Occasionally the term 'early' is used to denote authors from the Archaic period. As regards archaeological evidence, works of art have been referenced by their Museum location and details of attribution have been provided if available. Sources of illustrations have been provided within curly brackets, where appropriate. As regards referencing in footnotes, the Harvard system has been employed. Furthermore, page numbers have been given in parenthesis after the date of publication, separated therefrom by a colon. In the case of references which apply to the entirety of a work, no page numbers are provided. In such cases the references v have, for the most part, not been intended to provide sources of further clarification on a particular point, but have been rather included to give credit to the originator of a concept or theory. In addition, parentheses enclosing further parentheses are indicated by square brackets. The following people should be acknowledged for the help they have offered toward the production of this study. Foremost in the list of acknowledgements is my supervisor, Professor E.A. Mackay, without whose encouragement, guidance and inspirational advice this work would not have been possible. I also owe an enormous amount of gratitude to my parents who have provided vital financial and moral support throughout my years of study. In addition, the financial assistance of the Centre for Science Development is acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development. Thanks' are also due to Sandra Swart for proof-reading, and to Linda Strydom for help therewith. I would like to thank Terrence Lockyer for helping to track down books and fragments, and other members of the Department of Classics at the University of Natal, Durban, who have helped with individual queries and with whom I have engaged in useful discussions relating to the study. Further thanks are due to the secretary of the department, Joy McGill, for help with the layout and for patiently printing out numerous drafts when occasion called. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who have put up with me during the final stages of the work. V1 Table of Contents Chapter Chapter Page Number Title Number 1. Introduction. 1 2. The Ethiopians of the Early Poets. 19 3. History and Geography. 27 4. Manifestations of the Ethiopians in Greek Perceptions. 53 5. Myth and Religion. 75 6. Culture and Politics. 94 7. Conclusion. 111 Illustrations. 121 App. 1. Abbreviations. 141 App. 2. Bibliography of Primary Sources. 142 App.2 Bibliography of Secondary Sources. 146 Chapter One: Introduction. 'The use then, of words, is to be sensible markers of ideas; and the ideas they stand for are their proper and inunediate signification. ' John Locke.1 Few words have been misused as much as those which serve to separate groups of people from one another. Such words have little logical function 2 yet enjoy such widespread use as to make racial awareness one of the primary facets of personal identity. Our society is one in which divisions along racial and cultural lines appear natural, with many people never questioning the validity of such divisions, assuming these distinctions to be metaphysical rather than conventional. Yet in each country, political, cultural and scientific notions have influenced people's perception of racial divisions and seemingly arbitrary characteristics may be considered prominent amongst people of different cultures. Thus, in South Africa, Blackness is indicated by various somatic features, amongst which are dark skin and black tightly curled hair, whereas for many Americans, membership to this group requires simply an ancestor who was considered Black. In Brazil, the system is even more complicated, as there are three separate categories of people who are regarded as being Black. 3 In addition, there is the case of apartheid South Africa, in which many 'non-White' foreigners were often given the almost raceless distinction of being classified as 'honorary white'. Amongst such confusion, it is surprisingly easy to consider our present perception of race as having been valid for aU historical periods, and to examine interaction between peoples of different colours, from other periods in history and in other geographical locations, as though they had the same preconceptions that we do. It is through the explicit understanding of the meaning of terms which concern race and racism that we may gain a deeper understanding of how our own methods of group inclusion and exclusion operate. The ancient Greeks and Romans had contact with people of various hues. There were dark haired people amongst the Romans and Greeks, and people depicted as amber Locke (1690: iii.2.1). 2 For example, it is almost impossible to tell the logical meaning of the tenns 'Black' 'White' and 'mulatto' save on highly subjective grounds. ' 3 Dzidzienyo (1987: 28). 2 skinned on vase paintings.4 There were also people whose complexions were fairer than those of the Romans and Greeks (for example, the Gauls and Thracians) and even people whom we would now call 'Negroid' . For the most part, this last group of people were called Ateto1t£~ . However, to assume that the term Atet0'll referred simply, or exclusively, to someone who would be referred to as Negroid nowadays, is to ignore the rich web of connotations that surround the term and the place associated with it, AtetOma.