Description
Book SynopsisSarah 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.
Trade Review'Sarah Derbew's impressive first book is a carefully reflective study which is also provocative in the best sense, and a significant intervention in the field of classics. She untangles the vocabulary of race, ethnicity, skin colour and identity to let us see the vested interests and misrecognitions of modern scholarship - and offers a transformative vision of ancient Greek engagements with Africa.' Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture, University of Cambridge
In Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity, Sarah Derbew provides a radical and desperately needed reframing of Greek antiquity, weaving together a breathtaking range of ancient and modern sources to probe not only the complexity and richness of black presences in the ancient Greek world, but also the modern structures of thought, disciplinary training and even museum curation that have prevented us for far too long from seeing them.' Denise Eileen McCoskey, Professor and Affiliate in Black World Studies, Miami University, Ohio
… ambitious and groundbreaking … Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity is proof that the future of classics is already here. It's simply waiting for everyone else to catch up.' Najee Olya, Los Angeles Review of Books
Table of ContentsIntroduction: 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.
