Expand+Foreigners and immigrants in Greek and Roman literature, art and thought For over a thousand years, Greek and Roman literature and art portrayed foreign societies as inferior, dangerous and untrustworthy, while simultaneously trading and interacting ...

Hide-Foreigners and immigrants in Greek and Roman literature, art and thought For over a thousand years, Greek and Roman literature and art portrayed foreign societies as inferior, dangerous and untrustworthy, while simultaneously trading and interacting with them. To the Classical mind, foreigners were to be feared, militarily and culturally. Foreigners were considered uncivilized barbarians, yet these so-called barbarians were pivotal in influencing Greek and Roman social, cultural, and religious change. Racist images of the barbarian “other” persevered in Classical literature, law, coinage, inscriptions, and art, and was often used as propaganda for war or political gain. This course examines the origins and development of stereotypical representations of a host of different ethnicities – Irish, Persians, Africans, Germans, Celts, Slavs, Arabs – and assesses their contribution (positive and negative) to Greco-Roman civilization.