On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:16:57 GMT, "Jason Murray - The Great One"
Post by Jason Murray - The Great OneWhile whites are steady
trying to prove how white clearly black Egyptians were, they say next to
nothing about a people who were supposed to have truly been of white
origins.
Meanwhile, you say next to nothing about the fact that niggers weren't
Egyptians, nor were they even Nubians:
NUBIANS (a.k.a. Cushites)
Nubia, or Cush, is an ancient region of North Africa comprising
modern-day Southern Egypt and the Northern parts of Sudan and
Ethiopia. All of the cultures from that region, including Upper Egypt,
the Kingdom of Daamat and the Aksum Empire, were created
by people who spoke Afro-Asiatic languages, that is, Hamito-Semitic,
Caucasoid people, not blacks: "The Hamitic subfamily is
generally considered to include ancient Egyptian and its descendant,
Coptic; the Berber languages; and the Cushitic languages."
(The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition, Hamito-Semitic languages)
An article from Encyclopedia Britannica called History of Ethiopia
reiterates this linguistic connection between Nubia and the
Mediterranean, and elaborates on its cultural extentions with regard
to the various kingdoms mentioned above :
"...an ancient tongue spoken in this region [Nubia] fissured into
the modern languages of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly
Hamito-Semitic) family. This family includes the Cushitic and
Semitic languages now spoken in Ethiopia."
"During the 2nd millennium BC...a people speaking Ge'ez (a
Semitic language) came to dominate the rich northern
highlands of Tigray. There, in the 7th century BC, they
established the kingdom of Da'amat."
"Aksum's culture comprised Ge'ez, written in a modified South
Arabian alphabet, sculpture and architecture based on
South Arabian prototypes, and an amalgam of local and Middle
Eastern dieties. Thus, evidence exists of a close
cultural exchange between Aksum and the Arabian peninsula...."
Certainly Nubians must have come into contact with black Africans to
the south, especially with the expansion of Aksum, and no
doubt even incorporated them into their societies, as much of their
art suggests, but the original Nubians themselves were
Caucasian.
ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MUSEUM
NUBIA - "Its glory and its people"
1987 EXHIBITION: BROCHURE
FEBRUARY 1 thru 28, 1987
Presented by:
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
and the OAK WOODS CEMETERY ASSOCIATION
In the Tower of Memories, Oak Woods Cemetery,
Chicago
By BRUCE WILLIAMS, Research Associate
Exhibition Brochure Cover
Exhibition Credits
Exhibition Introduction
To the ancient Mediterranean world, the land south of Egypt was a
territory of mystery and legend. Wealth and exotic products
came from there. It was the home of the Ethiopians, whom Homer called
blameless and stories about its great achievements
endured to tantalize the modern world. This land, which now includes
Nubia, is a land of enormous distances, and its
exploration was long impeded by problems of transport and political
unrest. In the last hundred years, Nubia has slowly yielded
its secrets, its vanished peoples, abandoned cities and lost kingdoms
brought to light by the excavator and copyist of
inscriptions. This exhibit is a selection of objects recovered over
twenty years ago by the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition in
the effort to rescue archaeology from the rising water behind the
Aswan Dam.
The land of Nubia is a desert divided by the river Nile. For want of
water and rich soil, most of Nubia has never been able to
support a large population for long periods. However, some of Africa's
greatest civilizations emerged here, centers of
achievement whose existence was based on industry and trade. Because
they did not write their own languages until very late in
ancient times, we know these centers and their people largely through
their archaeology and what the Egyptians and Greeks
said about them.
An Early Kingdom in the Land of the Bow:
The A-Group,
3800-3100 B.C.
The first continuous agricultural tradition in Africa, the
Sudanese-Saharan Neolithic, developed almost ten thousand years ago
in country west of Nubia that is now desert.
The Nile Valley in Egypt had been inhospitable, but in the seasonally
dry channels of the Second Cataract, early farmers
learned to manage parts of the river's annual flood. This knowledge
could then be applied in Egypt's wide floodplain, giving rise
to the great sequence of Upper Egypt's early civilizations.
Upper Egypt soon grew wealthy and its culture expanded again into
Nubia, where renewed southern contacts gave rise to the
first of Nubia's trading cultures, called the A-Group. Incense,
copper, gold, objects of shell, and semiprecious stones were
traded northward in return for manufactured articles and probably
agricultural produce.
Most surprising, evidence that early pharaohs ruled in A-Group Nubia
was discovered by the Oriental Institute at Qustul,
almost at the modern Sudanese border. A cemetery of large tombs
contained evidence of wealth and representations of the
rulers and their victories. Other representations and monuments could
then be identified, and in the process, a lost kingdom,
called Ta-Seti or Land of the Bow, was discovered. In fact, the
cemetery at Qustul leads directly to the first great royal
monuments of Egypt in a progression. Qustul in Nubia could well have
been the seat of Egypt's founding dynasty.
Figure 1: The decoration of the Qustul Incense Burner, as restored. A
sacrificial procession contains the earliest definite image
of a pharaoh with his crown and falcon-label. Oriental Institute
Nubian Expedition.
The Land of Wawat: C-Group Lower Nubia,
2300-1550 B.C.
Life in Nubia between 3100 and about 2300 B. C. differed greatly from
the prosperous times of A-Group. We know of only a
few inhabitants and one substantial town, where copper was smelted for
export.
About 2300 B.C., during the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty, a new culture
appeared, which archaeologists call C-Group. Cattle
played an important role in this culture, as they have in many other
African societies since. Nevertheless, the C-Group was
settled permanently along the Nile, from Aswan to the Second Cataract,
and a closely related culture was established in
northern Sudan, especially at Kerma, south of the Third Cataract. As
Egypt fragmented politically, C-Group people entered the
country to the north, as herdsmen and soldiers. They sometimes rose
very high in Egyptian society and they played an important
role in the struggles that founded the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, about
2050 B.C.
Figure 2: One of the finest C-Group incised bowls is decorated with a
herd of cattle. Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition.
From biographies of Egyptian governors at Aswan, about 2300 B. C., we
learn that the peoples to the south were
concentrated in four principalities. One, Wawat, later gave its name
to all of Lower Nubia, the land between the First and the
Second Cataracts. Another, Yam, may have been a predecessor of Kush.
In the Egyptian period of disunity, about 2250 B.
C., Lower Nubia had its own pharaohs.
C-Group is well known for its tightly packed cemeteries of high stone
circles. Next to these circles were placed stelae, some
with pictures of cattle incised on them, and pottery, some of Nubia's
finest art. Three major cemeteries and a house of this
culture were excavated by the Oriental Institute at Adindan and Serra
East.
Kerma and the Rise of Kush,
ca. 2000-1550 B. C.
Egypt conquered Lower Nubia about 1950 B. C., and retained it until
about 1700. C-Group kept its cultural identity under
Egyptian rule, but the land of Kush to the south and the Medjay people
of the Eastern Desert remained independent. Kush,
much influenced by the Medjay, became a major power in the south, and
as Egypt fell into disunity again, about 1700 B. C.,
Kush took over Lower Nubia with its C-Group population and Egyptian
garrisons. The allegiance of people and soldiers was
transferred to the southern ruler who was represented as a pharaoh.
Most archaeology of the Kerma culture or early Kush is found south of
the Second Cataract, especially at the great capital at
Kerma, with its central temples, elaborate smelter, manufacturing
installations, houses and enormous royal mound tombs. Its
magnificent pottery was sometimes exported as far north as the
Egyptian Delta, and sometimes carried north by travelling
officials and soldiers.
The Ages of Egyptian Occupation
The Middle Kingdom,
1950-1700 B. C.
The New Kingdom,
1550-1 100 B.C.
The two periods of Egyptian rule in Nubia were quite different. In the
Middle Kingdom, Egyptian garrisons occupied fortresses
and the native C-Group peoples were not profoundly changed by the
imperial occupation.
Figure 3: Ruins of the temple of Soleb, one of New Kingdom Nubia's
greatest monuments. Photo by Breasted.
After the terrible struggles that ended Egypt's Second Intermediate
Period, objects and many local customs became practically
indistinguishable from those of Egypt. Much that underlay the
tremendous elaboration of Egypt must have been present long
before in Nubia, for the rapid, sympathetic, and understanding
adoption of Egyptian culture in Nubia is unique in the ancient
world. Egypt invested heavily in this change, building numerous temple
complexes such as Abu Simbel that were at once
centers of religion, culture, politics, and economy. In later
centuries, this investment bore fruit as Nubia championed the
pharaonic faith against forces of disruption, conquest and foreign
rule in the Nile Valley again and again.
Figure 4: The view looking south from Abu Simbel, great rock-cut
temple of Ramesses II, before it was moved. Photo by
Breasted.
The Empire of Kush
Between 1100 and 750 B.C., little is known of Nubia, but after 750, a
new Kushite kingdom appeared at Napata near the
Fourth Cataract and rapidly expanded into a huge empire. To the south,
Meroe was founded. To the north, Egypt had fallen
into fragments under Libyan rulers, and the Kushites extended their
control north of Thebes, the cult center of the god Amun in
Egypt, who was also the most favored deity of Kush. Piye, most famous
of Kush's pharaohs, united the Nile Valley from the
Mediterranean to Meroe, creating one of Africa's greatest states. He
and his successors are known as Egypt's Twenty-fifth
Dynasty. One, Taharqo, was a great builder, and the Kushite rulers led
Egypt to its last age of outstanding achievement, which
reached its peak in the sixth century B.C. But when Kush tried to stop
the westward advance of Assyria in Asia, Taharqo and
his successor Tanutamani were defeated and expelled from Egypt by 650
B.C. In Nubia and Sudan, Kush continued to be a
major state for a thousand years.
Meroitic Nubia,
ca. 200 B.C.- A.D. 300
The actual capital of Kush was established at Meroe quite early even
though its rulers built pyramids near Napata until about
300 B.C. Meroe became a great city of large industrial complexes and
great temples, with an inner city that contained palaces,
a shrine with a large pool and columns that spouted water, and even an
observatory. Numerous important centers were
founded in the Isle of Meroe, and great temple complexes dedicated to
gods with both Egyptian and Meroitic names. The most
important Meroitic deity was Apedemak, usually shown with a lion's
head, who became one of the greatest state gods. The
outstanding Meroitic industry known to us is iron. The site of Meroe
still contains large heaps of slag, and recent excavations
have unearthed parts of the furnaces used to smelt the metal.
Figure 5: Decoration from a ring-bezel shows the Meroitic lion god
Apedemak. Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition.
In the north, Meroitic policy had been to assist revolts in Upper
Egypt against foreign rulers, such as Persians, the Macedonian
Ptolemies, and Romans. After an agreement with Rome just after 23
B.C., Meroitic settlers were able to live close to Aswan,
beginning a new era of prosperity in Lower Nubia. Wealth derived from
trade made possible some of Nubia's most delightful
achievements in arts and crafts. The culture, like that of Kush's main
center at Meroe, was pharaonic, and the representations
on pottery and small objects were made in accordance with the what was
considered proper in that tradition. These Meroites
of Lower Nubia also constructed small brick pyramids, and equipped
their chapels with stone sculptures and inscribed
monuments.
X-Group Nubia
The Blemmyes, ca A.D. 250-500
The Noubadian Kingdom,
ca. A.D. 350-550
With the Roman world in turmoil, and Meroe in decline, a people from
east of the Nile known to the Greeks as Blemmyes and
to the Arabs as Bedja, rapidly overran much of Egypt and Lower Nubia.
Although expelled from Egypt, they were able to
establish themselves in the region of Nubia just south of Aswan.
Although they continued the religion of the pharaohs, their
rulers used the Greek forms of contemporary Roman Imperial titles. The
Oriental Institute excavated near Kalabsha and
recovered many fragments of decoration from one of the Blemmyes' most
important holy places, as well as pieces of their
unusual and beautiful pottery.
Figure 6: A beautifully carved sandstone incense burner found near the
main shrine of the Blemmyes has alternating lotus
flowers and buds in carved relief, a symbol of creation. Oriental
Institute Nubian Expedition.
South of the Blemmyes, the Meroitic province of Lower Nubia collapsed
by about A. D. 300, and by 375, the kingdom of the
Noubades, now known as Nubians was established with its capital near
the modern Sudanese Border. Great mound-tombs of
its kings at Qustul and Ballana contained much wealth, in crowns,
jewels, and great weapons, including long African
spear-swords, now in the Cairo Museum. The Oriental Institute's own
excavations there discovered that the tumuli themselves
were only part of larger complexes of chapels and sacrificial pits.
Like the Meroitic rulers they supplanted, the Noubadians
used pharaonic symbols and worshipped ancient gods. They joined with
the Blemmyes in attacks on Upper Egypt in defense of
the old religion against the newly dominant Christianity.
Christian Nubia, ca. A.D. 550-1400
Nubia first became Christian in the time of the Roman emperor
Justinian, but soon after, the Moslem Arabs conquered Egypt,
and the Nubians were isolated from direct contact with the Christian
world north of the Mediterranean. Early attempts at
Moslem conquest in Nubia failed, allowing various Christian kingdoms
of Nubia to remain independent for centuries, and they
even had a profitable treaty arrangement with the Caliph. At times,
Christian Nubia became quite powerful and was able to
intervene on behalf of the Coptic Christians in Egypt and even to hold
territory. In the twelfth century, under Saladin, and later,
under the Mamelukes, the power of Christian Nubia was broken by a
series of campaigns and invasions of Arab tribes. By
1400, Christian Nubia had disappeared. Nubians are now virtually all
Moslem.
Figure 7: Jar fragments from the later Christian Period that were
painted in black with intricate geometric designs. Oriental
Institute Nubian Expedition.
The conversion to Christianity was a major stimulus to cultural
achievement. Christianity required churches, written texts, in
Greek, Egyptian Coptic and in Old Nubian, as well as educational and
inspirational decoration. The Christian images and
symbols were drawn largely from traditions developed in Egypt and the
Mediterranean world, but Nubian artists and architects
added details, designs, combinations, and proportions of their own to
establish a unique formal art. Some of the greatest
paintings of the Middle Ages were made on the walls of the Cathedral
at Faras and rescued by a Polish expedition for the
Museums of Khartoum and Warsaw. The Oriental Institute excavated a
major monastery at Qasr el Wizz, and a large town at
Serra East, which contained churches with frescoes that could be
copied, but were too damaged to remove. Much architectural
information was recovered, along with objects from daily life,
including superbly painted pottery which was, as so often before,
the glory of Nubia.
RETURN TO NUBIAN EXPEDITION
RETURN TO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MUSEUM
Revised: June 2, 1998
http://www.oi.uchicago.edu/OI/PROJ/NUB/NUBX/NUBX_brochure.html