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Were Ancient Greeks and Romans ‘White’?
(Image above: a marble bust of Memnon, an ‘Ethiopian’ (what we would call ‘black’) student & adopted son of Herodes Atticus. From Atticus’ Villa (Arcadia, Greece). 1st c. CE. Currently in the Staatliches Museum, Berlin. SK-1503. (CC-BY-SA-4.0). In movies, tv, and other media, ancient Greeks and Romans are regularly portrayed as ‘white’ people. But were
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Why the label ‘Western Civilization’ is a problem…
and we should stop using it as if it describes something real. We are all familiar with the expression ‘Western civilization.’ It regularly appears in textbooks, the media, and political debates to describe the distinctive cultural pedigree of Europe and the US (along with Europe’s other former colonies) as heirs to the cultures and ideas
Παλινοδία , ἡ (noun): Palinodia, “Retracing One’s Path”
Palinodia ‘retraces the path’ between the modern world and the ancient one. Chronologically speaking, time flows in one direction: the past can only precede the present. Culturally speaking, however, the ‘path’ between the two is constantly being traversed, as the modern world habitually revisits and renegotiates its roots to formulate its identity and purpose. To quote William Faulkner, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past” (Requiem for a Nun).
This site is designed for high school teachers and students, providing up-to-date, scholarly entries and resources that ‘retrace the path’ between modernity and Greco-Roman antiquity. It investigates common misconceptions about ancient Greece and Rome — especially narratives or claims about the ancient world that deviate from what our evidence indicates — then explains why they are important to correct.
How to use this site:
- Each POST summarizes a problem or misconception, discusses how it came to exist, then explains the field’s current understanding of/conclusions about it — in 1000 words or less. Posts are primarily designed for teachers (they ‘move’ briskly to honor the 1000-word-count limit) but students could certainly read them, too.
- Below each Post is a pdf ‘slide’ Presentation for in-class use that covers its topic. Each individual slide in the presentation can be treated as its own, self-contained lesson (to accommodate teachers’ unpredictable time-constraints). Presentations often build upon their respective Posts and include new information.
- Posts & pdf Presentations include links to reliable, up-to-date sources.
- The page DID YOU KNOW THAT…? offers ‘snippets’ of interesting information about Greco-Roman antiquity to fill smaller chunks of class time.
- Palinodia offers a page containing every Presentation (PRESENTATIONS), & another with each Post’s bibliography (BIBLIOGRAPHIES), for quick access.
- Finally, Palinodia includes an archive of images that are legal to download and use (IMAGE ARCHIVE), as well as a collection of links to other reliable sites (ONLINE RESOURCES) that: a) discuss similar topics; b) grant access to scholarship that is less readily available to some high schools (e.g., public-facing scholarship covering ancient cultures from around the world); and c) offer useful, free teaching material (e.g., maps, texts, or images) that is legal to use (because it is public domain or the authors made their work freely available).
- PLEASE NOTE: This site is an active project that will keep adding material.
