[b-greek] Re: racist overtones in Hermas

From: Mary Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 04 2000 - 12:29:29 EDT


"Frank W. Hughes" wrote about the "black and lawless race" of Hermas:
>
> Wow -- the racism in that text is strong. I wouldn't call it an
> overtone. How about just translating it as it is and then just saying
> it is racist?
>

I think it's the case that MELAS can mean dark-complectioned, but
doesn't necessarily mean African, as does AIQIOY, "burnt-faced," and so
"Ethiopian." While this passage may suggest a prejudice against folks
with dark skin, it's a leap to label it racist in modern terms.

Mary

Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University

---
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu




This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:36:35 EDT