The history of antisemitism, defined as hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, goes back many centuries, being called "the longest hatred". Jerome Chanes identifies six stages in the historical development of antisemitism:Pre-Christian anti-Judaism in Ancient Greece and Rome that was primarily ethnic in nature Christian antisemitism in antiquity and the Middle Ages that was religious in nature and has extended into modern times Muslim antisemitism that was—at least in its classical form—nuanced, where Jews had dhimmi status. Political, social, and economic antisemitism during the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment Europe that laid the groundwork for racial antisemitism Racial antisemitism that arose in the 19th century and culminated in Nazism Contemporary antisemitism, which has been labeled by some as the new antisemitism