Of old the Hellenic race was marked off from.....

[sb70012]

Of old the Hellenic race was marked off from the barbarian (all others) as more keen-witted and more free from nonsense.

Source1: Greek Gods To Know While Cruising The Aegean On Crewed Yacht Charter Between Greece And Turkey
Source2: http://upload7.ir/images/64998152908936576924.jpg

Hello friends,
I hope you are fine.
I can not understand or paraphrase the sentence very well. This is my paraphrase:
"In the past there was a group of people related to Greece who were separated from wild people, and were more keen-witted and very literate."

Am I right?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[SoothingDave]

From well back in history the Greek people were different from other peoples because they were keen-witted and more free from nonsense.

(Not sure where you get "literate" from.)

 

[sb70012]

(Not sure where you get "literate" from.)

Hi,
Thanks for answering.
Then what does "free from nonsense" mean?

 

[SoothingDave]

You know what "nonsense" is?

They were mostly free of that.

I imagine they are saying that they were a rational people and did not have a lot of superstitions.