ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

White as marble: Greek and Roman cosmetic sources and racial theories

• In Event: Beauty matters. Contested arts, contested sciences in the premodern world

English Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the methodological significance of using cosmetic sources as heuristic and epistemic objects to contest commonly held views among historians. I take the issue of ancient racial constructions as a case in point.
Ancient Greek and Roman medical texts contain numerous cosmetic recipes to ‘brighten’ the complexion, or to remove ‘dark’ or ‘black’ blemishes. In the first part of this talk, I analyse the ingredients included in these preparations and show that the final products would often have been white, an interpretation confirmed by other types of sources, such as archaeological remains of cosmetic products and ancient frescos. I suggest that these ‘brightening’ products, which existed at the intersection of medical and artisanal practices, were to be interpreted as ‘whitening’.
At first sight, this ‘whitening’ may appear to have little to do with racial theories and racism in an ancient context. Differences in skin tones often map onto gendered differences in ancient art: women have pale skin and men darker skin because women are expected to spend less time outside, where they will catch the sun, than men. Furthermore, many scholars argue that the Greeks and Romans did not put much emphasis on skin colour in their construction of racial differentiation. I read the material against these prevalent theories, showing that ancient whitening cosmetics were not meant to be used solely by women, and that the medical texts at times hint at racial difference rooted in skin tone. I conclude that skin tone may have played a much important role in ancient constructions of race than often argued.

Author

• Laurence Totelin, Cardiff University