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That's frankly rubbish. Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles tells how the Apostles speak in tongues and Acts 2,9-10 lists the nations that were in Jerusalem f
by HarryHirsch 9y ago
That's frankly rubbish. Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles tells how the Apostles speak in tongues and Acts 2,9-10 lists the nations that were in Jerusalem for Shavuot: Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome.
Given, this is early 1st century AD Jerusalem, not Greece, but classical Athens was no less cosmopolitan, and the gymnosophists were well attested in Alexander the Great's time.
- ng12 9y agoI'm not sure I understand. The places listed are all parts of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and the Middle East which were largely white by some definition -- at least more-so than people from Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. > but classical Athens was no less cosmopolitan Now this is actually rubbish. The Roman Empire was orders of magnitude more diverse than Ancient Greece ever was. > the gymnosophists were well attested in Alexander the Great's time. Sure, they were -- as people who lived in India. There's a huge gulf between knowing of the existence of the outside world and developing modern conceptions of race. Here's an overly simple example: if I told you there was a race of three-legged Martians would you immediately start defining yourself by your bipedal nature? Probably not. What if a small number of Martians moved to your country and you saw one on the subway one time? Still, probably no. It's not until you're faced with a deeply-connected universal society that includes bipedal, tripedal, and quadrupedal humanoids that you might start thinking that way.