Role of Tribalism and Racism in Ancient Greece (Essay Sample)

ROLE OF TRIBALISM AND RACISM IN ANCIENT GREECE
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Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction4social-historical context4How the ancient Greeks viewed the Black community. 5Historical method of max weber5Slavery as a form of racism in the ancient Greece.6situations in which cultural racism arose6Conclusion and recommendation6
Abstract
In this paper the main area of concern will be on the role played by tribalism and racism in the Ancient Greek society from which the various forms of tribalism will be analyzed. Tribalism and racism in the modern day is focused on biological traits, physical traits and geographical origins of different groups of people unlike in the Ancient Greece where discrimination was mainly attributed to their way of life and not by their skin color or other biological traits.
Introduction
The question of whether the Ancient Greeks were racists is one which has raised a lot of questions amongst the various scholars in the entire World over. The major form of tribalism is clearly seen between the non-Greek Barbarians and some other Greek tribes such as the Macedonians who were considered to be inferior to the Hellenic community in terms of the standards of civilization of the general Hellenic community. As opposed to the modern form of racism where much focused on the biological traits of the different groups of people, in the ancient Greek society, racism was defined in terms of cultural, religious and political inclinations of Antiquity (Jacoby, 2005).
Social Historical Context
The major form of racism in the Ancient Greece society differed with modern concept of racism and race where race represented a particular lineage of origin of a group of people. Alexander the Great was a huge critic to the form of racism adopted by the western nation where one of his most remarkable speeches against the vice stated...” I wish all of you now that the wars are coming to an end, to live happily in peace.
All mortals from now on shall live like one people, united and peacefully working
Forwards a common prosperity. You should regard the whole world as your country -
A country where the best govern-, with common laws and no racial distinctions. I do
Not separate people as many narrow minded others do, into Greeks and Barbarians.
I'm not interested in the origin or race of citizens. I only distinguish them on the
Basis of their virtue. For me each good foreigner is a Greek and each bad Greek is a
Barbarian. If ever there appear differences among you, you must not resolve them by
Taking to arms; you should resolve them in peace. If need be, I shall act as your
Negotiator. You must not think of God as an authoritarian ruler, but you should
Consider him as common father, so that your conduct resembles the uniform behavior
Of brothers who belong to the same family. For my part I consider all -whether they
Be white or black-, equal, and I would like you to be not only the subjects of my
Common-wealth, but also participants and partners. Within my powers I shall
endeavor to fulfill all my promises. You should regard the oath we have taken tonight
As a symbol of love..."(THE “OATH” OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT).
How the ancient Greeks viewed the Black community.
The Greece community regarded the blacks highly and they were welcome to the fact that not all Africans were primitive in terms of their religious views and their way of life. Most particularly, they respected the fact that Ethiopians residing in the Mediterranean region had a well organized religious system and culture which was seen as more civilized as opposed to other African regions (Bakaoukas, 2005). In the Greek society, skin color had nothing to do with the various forms of discrimination experienced in the society since it was clearly understood that issues with skin color were mainly due to climatic conditions and the environment and quite on the contrary, the Ancients were welcome to the idea of a well racially mixed society.
The historical method of Max Weber
This method is also referred to as the method of “ideal types “where some ancient Greek groups discriminated against other members of different groups mostly Greek and non-Greek groups. In this method, discrimination was as a result of differences in terms of religious views, different cultural ways and political affiliations where as opposed to the modern definition of race and racism where emphasis is laid on different biological traits(Bakaoukas, 2005).
Ancient Greek racism as a Form of slavery
According to Aristotle, racism was connected to slavery in the ancient Greek society where the non-Greek Barbarians were regarded as natural slaves owing to their way of life, their way of thinking and in general their standards of civilization did not match up with the otherwise good way of the Greek people. Discrimination in the Ancient Greek society according to Aristotle is due to cultural differences as opposed to biological characteristics of different groups of people characterized by racism and tribalism in t...