The white hair of the Albanians

The article analyzes passages from the works of three Latin authors, Solinus (3rd century - first half of the 4th century CE), the Elder Pliny (23/24-79 CE) and Aulus Gellius (2nd century CE), in which Caucasian Albanians are said to have white hair from childhood and a better eyesight at night than during the day, an information known also to Isigonus of Nicaea (1st century BCE?), whose work is now lost. Only Solinus proposes a paretymological interpretation of the name «Albani» on the basis of the Latin adjective «albus [white]», thus linking the color of the hair to the name of the people. Given that this paretymology makes sense only in a Latin context, it can be hypothesized that it was elaborated by Solinus himself or by one of his sources lost to us, which, however, could not have been Isigonus.