In this chapter, I propose to approach the ‘Oriental’ from an oblique angle by examining the methods through which an ancient population group was ascribed ‘Oriental’ characteristics, even though they had existing ties to a different macrogeographic pool of ethnic stereotypes. To understand how the characteristics that held a degree of ‘proverbiality’ among ancient audiences were used to trigger associations with the ‘Eastern’ iconosphere, it may be informative to explore a case in which a group of people (or, indeed, individuals) not commonly understood to belong to the ‘Orient’ by their origin were nonetheless presented as possessing or having obtained ‘Oriental’ characteristics. Such representations are, naturally, full of rhetorical and polemical considerations; and it is exactly for this reason they constitute fascinating evidence for the ancient Graeco-Roman ideas of acculturation and essentialism.