Climbing the Ethnic Ladder: Ethnic Hierarchies and Judean Responses

This article considers ethnic hierarchies in the ancient Mediterranean world, exploring the ways in which minorities such as the Judeans Philo, Paul, and Josephus engaged in discourses of ethnicity and ethnographic culture. I propose two main strategies by which such minorities sought to claim a more desirable position in relation to other ethnic groups, both adopting and challenging hegemonic categorizations.