Classics and Race

Wednesday 11 June 2025

In this blog, UG student Emily Dale discusses the misappropriation of Classical antiquity to support modern racist ideologies and what we, as Classical scholars, can do to address this.

When one thinks of Classical studies, there exists an unfortunate, though common, preconception that it is a subject which studies white people, and is likewise studied by wealthy, white men.^[i] Figures which may spring to mind include Boris Johnson, and members of the Trump cabinet. Though there are wealthy, white men who study the subject, this is a reductive view of a discipline which is much more diverse than the alt-right would suggest. There is much illuminating scholarship on both the issues of class^[ii], and gender^[iii] in Classics, which is well worth looking into, however in the limited space of this post we will be looking particularly at the issue of race in the ancient world, and how this is relevant to the present. There is a lot to unpack.

Let’s begin with why this is important. In the current climate of alt-right white supremacy, and an uprise in neo-Nazism, Classics has been dragged to the forefront of the frenzy, as an indisputable authority brought in to justify a whole host of hateful ideologies. For example, well-known “scientific racist” Richard Lynn tries to argue that Greek physician Galen claimed that “black Africans are less intelligent than Europeans”^[iv] to back up his claim of IQ tests pointing to the same result. An article published by Pharos, a website which challenges misapplications of the Classics by white supremacists, debunks both the validity of the argument of superior European intellect and the claim that Galen actually said or wrote that. It is clearly important that these claims are challenged, and the simple act of deconstructing the inaccuracies of misquoted passages crumbles some of the credibility of the alt-right figures who used them. However, this would likely not change their minds about their radical views, and the impact would be limited. A more complex and perhaps more important step would be to question both the pedestal upon which Classical studies sit in the Western imagination, and the validity of the racial connotations of whiteness in Classics.

By debunking the myth that Classics is a ‘white’ subject, we can ensure that the grounds upon which white supremacists base some of their historical justifications is made unstable. Firstly, when discussing race in the ancient world, we should perhaps clarify that there was not the same social construction of race in antiquity as there is in the modern day.^[v] The concept would be unfamiliar to the ancient Romans or ancient Greeks, and the categorizations such as ‘black’ or ‘white’ to define human groupings did not exist.^[vi] There were, however, forms of proto racism existing in ancient Greek and Roman society. These included the idea that the environment a person inhabits can determine the characteristics of those born and bred there.^[vii] For example, in the works of Herodotus, he said that Africans had “sensual, passionate natures” due to the hot weather^[viii], and there are implications in his work that Greece’s climate is better than others.^[ix]Moreover, Dionysus thought that climate was the cause of long-living in Ethiopians, and the Roman historians Livy and Tacitus also suggested that national traits were determined by climate.^[x] This idea of environmental determinism, though not entirely synonymous with modern racism, does result in people being reduced to stereotypes^[xi] rather than have their individual agency considered, and it lays the groundwork for the essentializing nature of modern racism as well as enabling an ‘othering’ of people from different parts of the world.

Although there were forms of proto racism in the ancient world, often the extent to which the quoted passages support modern forms of racism is exaggerated. Whilst acknowledging the role of Greco-Roman antiquity in laying the foundations of modern racism, current forms of discrimination have gone much further, built on developed concepts of racial categorization. It is clear that racist ideologies are often projected to an exaggerated degree back to the ancient world, and it is important that this is made clear to refute the justification that modern racism is an ancient – and therefore somehow more legitimate – phenomenon. Challenging these inaccuracies reduces the credibility justification at the very least, although racists thinkers will likely find other means of justification.

Furthermore, the Classical world was not entirely ‘white’, in the conception we have today. This argument has been one which has been vehemently denied by many ‘white Classics’ defenders, which rather indicates the importance of this argument in crumbling the foundations of white supremacist ideologies.^[xii] For example, there is an X post by alt-right figure Paul Joseph Watson mocking and questioning the historical accuracy of a BBC video discussing life in Roman Britain, featuring a family with a non-white father and children. However historian Mary Beard supported the video, saying that this sort of family was “unsurprising”, and that due to the extensive nature of the Roman empire, there is evidence of ethnic and cultural diversity in Roman Britain, including a governor of Roman Britain from Algeria, whom the video may have featured.^[xiii] This is a good example of how we can remain Good Classicists Under a Bad Emperor, and challenge men whose “inane readings of classical texts often provide a window into their intellectual shortcomings”.^[xiv] Providing resistance and scholarly correction to these movements is, I would argue, only the beginning of a necessary radical upheaval of the discipline: taking the ancient world from its pedestal. As Dan-el Padilla Peralta argues, pointing out these mistakes is not enough, and explaining that a supreme white empire never existed won’t stop white nationalists from wanting it; he argues we must rewrite the story of antiquity, and the people we are in the modern day.^[xv]

An example of ‘rewriting the story of antiquity’ is the casting of Achilles in Troy: Fall of a City as a black actor.^[xvi] As mentioned above, many in the ancient Classical world were not “white”, and some were dark-skinned and of North African descent, exemplified in the Iliad where Memnon of Ethiopia is mentioned.^[xvii] Recentring the truth of the diversity of the ancient classical world in wider media as well as in scholarship is a concrete way of ensuring that this truth reaches larger audiences, and challenges the false narrative of “white” Classics. Although these approaches receive backlash from those who wish to preserve the white narrative, these representations create a dialogue, one in which some may begin to question assumptions pushed by racist propaganda.

To counter the misuse of ancient material by white supremacists, I would like to highlight the varied and alternative applications of Classics, as this module has been teaching us. There have been many emancipatory applications of Classical materials, such as Haitian revolutionaries who characterised their leader Toussaint L’Ouverture as a “Black Spartacus”.^[xviii] See also Sonya Dyer’s artistic project Hailing Frequencies Open which focuses on the Greek myth of the Ethiopian princess Andromeda and the reclaiming of forgotten Black women.^[xix] Padilla urges caution when citing these examples however, as there are many more examples of the use of the Classics in oppression – he argues that Classics deserve survival only if they can “become a site of contestation” for those who have been diminished by it in the past.

There is not time enough to go into greater detail about whether Classics will or should survive as a discipline, but I would urge readers to call into question their ideas of a ‘white Classics’ and look to critically evaluate positions of unquestioned hegemony. Rather than accept potentially false narratives spread by the media, it is important we practice intentional contestation of the status-quo. Though it is perhaps unconventional to question my own discipline in this way, I am grateful to the academy for the opportunity to do so. Through encouraging such open-mindedness and critical analysis, in my mind this module is a resounding success. If Classics is to survive and retain relevance in the modern world, outdated assumptions which support racism in the present must be deconstructed and contested.

References

Goldsmiths Art Department. 2025. “Sonya Dyer: Hailing Frequencies open”. Accessed April 9, 2025. https://sites.gold.ac.uk/art-research/sonya-dyer/#:~:text=Sonya%20Dyer%27s%20practice%20explores%20where,out%20more%20about%20Sonya%20Dyer.
Gruen, Erich S. 2010. Rethinking the Other in Antiquity. Princeton University Press.
Hall, Edith. 2016. Citizens’ Classics for the 21^st Century. Cambridge University Press.
Higgins, Charlotte. 2017. “Mary Beard is right – ‘Romans’ could be from anywhere, from Carlisle to Cairo”. Published August 7, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2017/aug/07/mary-beard-romans-ancient-evidence
Isaac, Benjamin. 2004. The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity. Princeton University Press.
Johnson, James William. 2015. Formation of English Neo-Classical Thought. Princeton University Press.
Kennedy, Rebecca F, C. Sydnor Roy, and Max L. 2013. Goldman. An Anthology of Primary Sources in Translation. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Pharos. 2018. “Ancient Greek doctor Galen cited to authorize racist IQ “data””. Published October 5, 2018. https://pharos.vassarspaces.net/2018/10/05/ancient-greek-doctor-galen-cited-to-authorize-racist-iq-data/
Poser, Rachel. 2023. “He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?”, The New York Times Magazine. Updated June 15, 2023.
Radio Times. 2019. “No, the BBC is not ‘blackwashing’ Troy: Fall of a City”. https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/troy-fall-of-a-city-blackwashing-casting-black-actors-greek-myth/.
Said, Edward. 2003. Orientalism. Penguin Modern Classics.
Watson, Paul Joseph (@PrisonPlanet). “Thank God the BBC is portraying Roman Britain as ethnically diverse. I mean, who cares about historical accuracy, right?” X, July 25, 2017, 12:07pm. https://x.com/PrisonPlanet/status/889804329082912769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E889804329082912769%7Ctwgr%5E63521ec1ecab8ba11b7a0b6ed6bef290a1cf7231%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2017-08-07%2Fmary-beard-twitter-trolls-bbc-roman-race-row%2F8780634
Zuckerberg, Donna. 2016. “How to Be a Good Classicist Under a Bad Emperor”. Eidolon. Published November 21, 2016. https://eidolon.pub/how-to-be-a-good-classicist-under-a-bad-emperor-6b848df6e54a
Zuckerberg, Donna. 2018. Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age. Harvard University Press.