Editing Master race (section)

==Mediterranean race==
{{Main|Mediterranean race}}
{{See also|Culture of Italy|Culture of Greece|Culture of Portugal|Culture of Spain|Mediterraneanism}}
The claim that the [[Mediterranean race]] was responsible for the most important of ancient Western civilisations was a problem for the promoters of Nordic superiority. According to [[Giuseppe Sergi]], the Mediterranean race was the "greatest race of the world" and was singularly responsible for the most accomplished civilisations of ancient times, including those of [[Mesopotamia]], [[Ancient Persia|Persia]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], [[Phoenicia]], [[Carthage]], and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]. The Mediterranean race was also a major influence to the outside world in the modern era: during the 16th century, Spain and [[Portugal]] established the first [[Colonial empires|global empire]]s in Western history, placing both nations on the highest level of political and economic powers in Europe.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

[[Charles Gabriel Seligman]] also stated that "it must, I think, be recognised that the Mediterranean race has actually more achievements to its credit than any other race, since it is responsible for by far the greater part of Mediterranean civilisation, certainly before 1000 BC (and probably much later), and so shaped not only the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean cultures]], but those of Western as well as the greater part of [[Eastern Mediterranean]] lands, while the culture of their near relatives, the [[Hamites|Hamitic]] pre-dynastic [[Egyptians]], formed the basis of that of [[Egypt]]."<ref>''The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', Vol. 54. (January – June, 1924), p. 30.</ref>

The Nazis explained this by claiming that the original [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]] and [[Greeks]] were [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] Nordic tribes which had migrated into Italy and [[Greece]], during the Iron Age era. The Nazis also claimed that the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese Empire]]s were examples of Nordic power since, at the time, their governments were run by the descendants of the Germanic [[Visigoths]] who invaded Spain and [[Portugal]] fifteen centuries earlier.
However, they did admit that the masses of people who lived during the flowering of these four civilizations were Mediterranean. This led to Germans of all European races to be classified as Aryans.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>