This is Frank Snowden's classical “Blacks in
Antiquity”, first published in 1970. The book argues that color prejudice in
the modern sense didn't exist in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. It
discusses Greek and Roman descriptions of “Ethiopians” in both literature and
art. It also discusses some lesser known (to the layman) episodes in Roman
history involving African peoples at the Nubian border. While the book is
somewhat dragging due to its scholarly style (it seems Snowden wanted to be
exhaustive in his treatment of the subject), it's also very interesting.
Snowden's book played a somewhat peculiar role in the famed Black Athena
controversy. On the one hand, Snowden is seen as a scholarly trailblazer for
his efforts to make classical studies more color-sensitive. On the other hand,
Snowden denied that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans (the main point
of Afro-centrism). Thus, his book makes a sharp distinction between Egyptian
and Ethiopian, only dealing with the latter. As far as I can tell, he doesn't
discuss Herodotus' claim (or purported claim) that the Egyptians were “black”
and “wooly-haired”. Snowden also distinguishes between two racial types of
“Negro”, a no-no in today's anti-racist climate (despite Snowden's own
anti-racism). There is the “True Negro”, presumably the West African type or
perhaps a generic Negroid type. Then, there is the “Nilote”, a type found in
Sudan and Ethiopia, which has a pitch black skin, while being closer in facial
characteristics to the Hamites (to which I assume Snowden count the Egyptians).
The book doesn't discuss the issue at length, so it's not clear if Snowden
regarded these types as co-mingling on the same territory, or living apart. For
instance, where the Nubians “Nilotes”? In passing, Snowden also mentions “red”
tribes in Africa. The ancient Greeks and Romans also knew about Pygmies and
“Macrobians”, the latter said to be the tallest of men. Massai?
As already indicated, “Blacks in Antiquity” is an interesting book on many
levels. For instance, it points out that there were both light-skinned and
dark-skinned peoples in North Africa already during ancient times. The ancient
sources aren't always sure about the exact racial character of a given culture.
Thus, the Garamantes were sometimes described as Black, sometimes as White.
Even sub-Saharan Blacks were present in Northwest Africa from the earliest
times. They are said to have invaded the area and penetrated as far north as
the Atlas Mountains. It was also interesting to read about the Blemmyes and
their protection of the Isis temple at Philae. Other topics of interest include
Busiris, Memnon, Andromeda (so *that's* where George R R Martin got the idea of
a White woman becoming ruler over Blacks, cough cough) and Achilles' Black
companion. On the more historical side, Carthaginian general Hannibal recruited
Blacks to fight in his military expedition in Italy.
One problem with the book is that Snowden insists on using the term “Ethiopian”
throughout, making it unclear to the general reader whether he is referring to
Nubia, Africa in general or the territory of modern Ethiopia. You probably need
to know a thing or two about the ancient world before approaching this work.
Another problem is that the author mentions slavery mostly in passing, while
admitting that most Blacks reached the ancient world precisely through that
route. Perhaps he feared that Black slavery would undermine his thesis of no
racism in the ancient world? It doesn't, of course, but in the minds of many
readers, slavery = Blackness would have been a standard trope. Most Blacks in
the Roman world had ordinary occupations, such as workers, farmers and
soldiers. Others worked in entertainment. A few were merchants, diplomats or
advisers to Roman emperors. But then, this doesn't mark them out from the rest
of the imperial population.
In fact, it makes Blacks in antiquity look rather regular.
