No.48853
>Whiteness was associated with femininity. Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazeusae 191-192 has Euripides criticising Agathon as λευκος (white), γυναικοφωνος (woman-voiced), and ‘απαλος (soft). His Ecclesiazeusae 428 similarly has a young man described as λευκος proposing that women should rule the city. Xenophon’s Hellenica 3.4.19 records Spartan soldiers, on seeing that their enemies are λευκος, deciding that fighting against them would be ει γυναιξι δεοι μαχεσθαι (like having to fight women). Euripides’ Bacchae 457 has Pentheus describe Dionysus as λευκος, and also ουκ αμορφος […] ‘ως ες γυναικας (not ill-formed […] as unto women, 453-4). The association is quite consistent.
> Meanwhile, Aristotle’s Politics makes a ‘golden mean’ argument about geography and ethnicity, if not precisely skin colour, claiming that Europeans and people living in cold places are θυμοῦ μέν ἐστι πλήρη, διανοίας δὲ ἐνδεέστερα καὶ τέχνης (‘full of courage but lacking in intelligence and skill’), and thus are too disorganised to conquer their neighbours, whilst Asians are διανοητικὰ μὲν καὶ τεχνικὰ τὴν ψυχήν, ἄθυμα δέ (‘intelligent and skilful, but without courage’, Politics 7, 1327b), and that Greeks occupy the perfect mean between the two and thus have intelligence, skill, and courage. Pale-skinned northern Europeans, then, he represents as inferior.