Did Roman's possess a sense of color bias?

I believe Roman prejudice was principally confined to a person's cultural attributes, not racial attributes. For instance, they held Celts and Germans in very low regard, despite the fact they were quite fair-skinned.

Originally posted by Sparten They actually made fun of the Celts and Germans skin color, as mentioned elsewhere. A joke in the legions was that you should never fight the barbarians with the sun in your backs, the shine from their eyes would blind you.

True, but they didn't ascribe their "barbarism" to the colour of their skin, but to their culture. To the Roman mind everyone was capable of being Romanized and becoming a Roman. Many respected Romans were actually of Gallic stock; probably Tacitus, for instance. Claudius I - himself a native of Lugdunum - admitted Gauls to the Senate in 48. So, the concept of racial inferiority doesn't really seem to have been present, it was more a notion of cultural inferiority.
    

Still they did have African Emperors, as well as an Arab. So Romanisation was way more important. In a way its a good thing, substance over form.

Racism is a fairly new concept. Romans didn't have it because ancient cultures in the mediterranean were similar in technology and traded with each other a lot. That and the climate produced a similar sort of attitudes about architecture and social life.

Racism developed when the europeans centuries ago encountered "savages" who were always darker in complexion than they were and were easy to control. Some scholars decided that naturally whiter skin tones meant that you were superior to all others since at the time europe controlled almost everything. I wish this ideology would disappear permanently never to resurface, hasn't anybody read guns germs and steel?

True, but they didn't ascribe their "barbarism" to the colour of their skin, but to their culture. To the Roman mind everyone was capable of being Romanized and becoming a Roman. Many respected Romans were actually of Gallic stock; probably Tacitus, for instance. Claudius I - himself a native of Lugdunum - admitted Gauls to the Senate in 48. So, the concept of racial inferiority doesn't really seem to have been present, it was more a notion of cultural inferiority.

The Romans did believe their culture to be superior, yet with regard to Greek they wavered between admiration and dismissive arrogance. Your customs and social position distinguished you as a Roman, as well as your ability to speak Latin.

The Romans and the Greeks before them had a grudging respect for the Persians as well.

I think you forget that what Romans were saying were not exactly their true opinions but a formal integration in the propaganda machine.


The racism existed in antiquity. In the most important book of Christian monasticism, the Paterikon or Apoftegmata Patrorum, presenting words and life facts of the Fathers (Monks with a holy life) of Egypt, there is one of these monks, considered among the few most important: Abba Moses the Etiopian. He lived in 4th or begining of 5th century and he was black, in contrast with most of the monks from Egypt who were Copts, Greeks or Romans. In one of Abba Moses words, he is bespattering himself with such words: "Oh, you, the blacked, what are you looking for among the true men?" I think such manifestations illsutrate the racial prejudices in that time.


But also I want say that there are two kinds of racism: it's a negative racism, the belief that some races are superior others, and the positive racism, to want to protect a territory where there is a culture of an ethnic group, against the possible changings in ethnic compossition of that territory.

From the works of ancient writters one can assume that they had some people in contempt, like for example Germanic tribes.

I beleive they even had high ranking official who were partly or even wholly of "negroid" origin who were completely Roman.