Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity

Sarah Derbew brings into brilliant new focus varied portrayals of blackness in ancient Greek literature and art, while critiquing modern classical misappropriations which retroactively project contemporary theories of race and skin color onto archaic settings. This is a compelling contribution to better understanding of representations of blackness in antiquity.

List of contents

Introduction: The metatheater of blackness; 1. Masks of blackness: Reading the iconography of black people in ancient Greece; 2. Masks of difference in Aeschylus's suppliants; 3. Beyond blackness: Reorienting Greek geography; 4. From Greek scythians to black Greeks: Spectrum of foreignness in Lucian's satires; 5. Black disguises in an aithiopian novel; Conclusion: (re)placing blackness; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Bibliography; Recommended translations of primary Greek texts; Index.

About the author

Sarah Derbew is an Assistant Professor of Classics in affiliation with the Center for African Studies and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. She was previously a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Summary

Sarah Derbew brings into brilliant new focus varied portrayals of blackness in ancient Greek literature and art, while critiquing modern classical misappropriations which retroactively project contemporary theories of race and skin color onto archaic settings. This is a compelling contribution to better understanding of representations of blackness in antiquity.

Product details

• Authors: Sarah F. Derbew, Sarah F. (Harvard University Derbew, Derbew Sarah F. Derbew
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2022
• EAN: 9781108495288
• ISBN: 978-1-108-49528-8
• No. of pages: 270
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; HISTORY / Ancient / General, Ancient Greece, History of Art, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, History of Architecture, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Classical style, History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE