REAL HISTORY
Cushite
"For thousands of years,
African peoples spread the influence
of their civilizations throughout the world."
-The Chicago Field Museum Of Natural History
Due to the fear of alienating or lowering the self-esteem of mainstream
society, most museums place pictures of Ptolemaic peoples (Greek invaders
who conquered Ancient Egypt) in close proximity to the Egyptian exhibits.
Since most museum travelers know little to nothing about the history of
Kemet and the Kamites (what Ancient Egyptians called their land and
themselves) that lived there, it gives the impression that the pictures you
see are how Ancient Egyptians actually looked.
The Ancient Kamites used many colors to portray themselves and their
African Gods. Blue, green, gold and reddish brown on their monuments,
sculptures, and wall paintings. Colors were also used by a number of other
ancient and modern Indigenous African peoples, like the Masai or the
Samburu of East Africa. To this day like the Masai, the Ancient Kamites or
Kemites (the Greeks called them Egyptians) at times painted their bodies
with red pigment, a very ancient African practice. For thousands of years
before this great Egyptian civilization, Africans had been extracting ocher
(or ochre) from the earth, a mineral oxide of iron that comes in a wide
array of colors.
The painting from the tomb of Ramses III (1200 B.C.E.) shows that the
Kamites (Egyptians) saw themselves as Africans (in their natural state). In
many of the wall paintings, the colors the Ancient Kamites used
symbolically reflected their spiritual belief systems and were not
reflective of their actual skin color. They also used blue and green. The
man in red represents the "blood of life" and the woman in gold represents
fertility. They also show another African (Cushite or Nubian), Asiatic and
a Indo-European. Throughout their entire history, the Ancient Kamites
(Egyptians) never entertained the fantasy of portraying themselves as
Caucasian. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world, but between
12,000 to 10,000 years ago it had a much wetter climate and was a fertile
region of fish-filled rivers, grassy valleys, some forests, and abundant
wildlife. Roaming the land as time went on, some of the bands of nomadic
African (Africoid) hunters and gatherers began farming and settled into
permanent communities and developed increasingly advanced towns. Climate
changes around 2,000 B.C.E. caused the Sahara to begin drying up. The
Kingdom of Ta-Seti started before the Kemetic Dynasties, the Ancient
Kamites (Egyptians) power started from around 3200 B.C.E., and lasted long
after their major accomplishments.
Pre-dynastic or dynastic, they were African By Nature.
"Dissident learn the discipline of fighting and developing their arguments
and arguing from evidence while those who work within the safe mainstream
work with a whole lifetime with unexamined assumptions and presumptions".
-Michael Parenti
Mark
Cushite <cus...@uss.net> wrote in article
<01bcba56$9791cd80$0310f1cf@default>...
>
> "For thousands of years,
> African peoples spread the influence
> of their civilizations throughout the world."
>
> -The Chicago Field Museum Of Natural History
>
"Cushite" posted an assertion as to the identity of the Ancient Egyptians.
THe nub of the argument being that from the evidence of paintings they were
a Black African people. I doubt that whatever they were or were not is of
the slightest importance in the lives of any of us - particularly here in
South Africe. However, a similar assertion was made recently on sci.anthro
and what follows is a response which should clarify matters.
This was the essence of that assertion:-
>In all honousty, from the way they portrayed themselves, I don't think
>the Ancient Egyptians looked very different from modern day Ethiopians/
>Somalis/Nubians/Hamar people.
The reply:-
"Just because modern terminology (in the US anyway) seems to have
reduced the question to "black vs. white" doesn't mean that the
ancient Egyptians did, or that the Greeks were cognizant of the same
usages either. For one thing, the coloration used in Egyptian
paintings of the Egyptians themselves used russet/brown colorations
(and paler yellow/pink for women, indicating less time in the sun) and
not the "black" color you have implied. Most books on Egyptian art
show that the "black" Nubian groups are highly distinct groups of
people form the ancient Egyptians in the Egyptian representations of
themselves and the other peoples who lived in surrounding countries.
These are examples of the Canon of Egyptian Art, which had defined and
set rules.
If you wish to imply that _any_ color other than "white" shows that
the ancient Egyptians were thereby "black peoples", you are welcome to
your definition, but you must realize that you are using ONLY modern
socio-political constructs/interpretations for the coloration scheme
you see, and that is NOT how the Egyptian interpreted themselves or
the peoples about them. In the Egyptian art canon, they used a
determined coloration scheme for the Mitanni and Asiatic groups,
another for Semitic/nomadic groups, and yet another for the Nubian
(usually negroid) groups. All were distinct and all were different
from the "Egyptian colorations". And in reality, the only reason for
these color schemes was to heighten the "foreignness" of the peoples
so represented. Once these same set of 'foreign peoples' resided in
Egypt for any length of time, evidence shows that they become
portrayed as "Egyptianized" in paintings and sculpture, using the same
coloration as the Egyptians. Now, this means that the tenets of
culture of Egypt predominated over any actual physical differences. "
I apologise to the author of the above and trust that since it was a reply
to a very similar assertion she will not object to my using her response;
this in the hope that the matter may be put to rest - in this group at
least.
Mark
Season
On 7 Sep 1997 15:11:47 GMT, "Mark " <ma...@iafrica.com> wrote:
^Cushite <cus...@uss.net> wrote in article
^<01bcba56$9791cd80$0310f1cf@default>...
^>
^> "For thousands of years,
^> African peoples spread the influence
^> of their civilizations throughout the world."
^>
^> -The Chicago Field Museum Of Natural History
^>
^"Cushite" posted an assertion as to the identity of the Ancient Egyptians.
^THe nub of the argument being that from the evidence of paintings they were
^a Black African people. I doubt that whatever they were or were not is of
^the slightest importance in the lives of any of us - particularly here in
^South Africe. However, a similar assertion was made recently on sci.anthro
^and what follows is a response which should clarify matters.
^
<snip>
The racial character of the ancient Egyptians is significant ,in particular , to
people in search of roots and a proud heritage , and who define themselves
primarily by race. It is also significant to those who wish to claim superiority
based on the colour of their skin.......
Mark
Season <rein...@global.co.za> wrote in article
<341af674...@news.global.co.za>...
> On 7 Sep 1997 15:11:47 GMT, "Mark " <ma...@iafrica.com> wrote:
>
> ^"Cushite" posted an assertion as to the identity of the Ancient
Egyptians.
> ^The nub of the argument being that from the evidence of paintings they
were
> ^a Black African people. I doubt that whatever they were or were not is
of
> ^the slightest importance in the lives of any of us - particularly here
in
> ^South Africe. However, a similar assertion was made recently on
sci.anthro
> ^and what follows is a response which should clarify matters.
> ^
> <snip>
>
> The racial character of the ancient Egyptians is significant ,in
particular , to
> people in search of roots and a proud heritage , and who define
themselves
> primarily by race. It is also significant to those who wish to claim
superiority
> based on the colour of their skin......
The whole point of the article which I quoted was to show that the actual
racial character of the Ancient Egyptians would not support the claims made
by those "People in search of roots and a proud heritage". I know that it
is naive to suppose that people who feel that they need this sort of
support will forgo it, even in the face of clear, tangible and well
documented evidence to the contrary, but I cannot see the benefit of
stridently voiced self delusion to anyone. Furthmore, I cannot see how
"great great grand daddy was a pharoah" is going to change the life in
whatever ghetto is appropriate , the physical or the mental.
We are all living now, not six or seven thousand years ago - do give it a
rest.
Mark
.
>