Before Color Prejudice

“This elegantly written book…collects evidence for artistic representations of African individuals in the ancient world from Egyptian to Roman times… His illustrations are well chosen and [show] how the ancient world saw the people of its southern frontiers.”—P. L. Shinnie, American Historical Review

“Snowden provides a sophisticated assessment of the ancients’ lack of racism… The chief contribution of Snowden’s work lies in the case he makes for the view that racism is not universal… Whatever the time at which the racism that continues to plague modern societies arose, it most certainly does not trace back to antiquity.”—American Journal of Sociology

“This cogent, well-written study is richly illustrated with 47 pages of plates of uniformly high quality.”—Lionel Casson, Archaeology