POE BEGINS WITH A QUOTATION FROM SOCRATES, THAT “WE LIVE AROUND A SEA, LIKE FROGS AROUND A POND.” HE MEANT THAT SEVERAL CIVILIZATIONS LIVED AROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, LIKE SHIVERING CAMPERS HUDDLED AROUND A WARM FIRE.
POE BEGINS WITH “DARKEST EUROPE.” HE POINTS OUT THAT EUROPE WAS NOT ALWAYS AN ADVANCED CENTER OF CIVILIZATION. CIVILIZATION BEGAN IN AFRICA AND SOUTHWEST ASIA (MESOPOTAMIA) AND THEN SPREAD.
PHARAONIC EGYPT COMES INTO EXISTENCE WITH NARMER, C. 3100 BC. GREECE EMERGES MUCH LATER, C. 1250 BC. AND GREECE WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST EUROPEAN CIVILIZATIONS.
WHEN THE PERSIAN KING XERXES INVADED GREECE IN 480 BC, IT WAS SO WILD THAT LIONS ATTACKED HIS BAGGAGE CAMELS AS THEY MARCHED THOUGH THRACE AND MACEDONIA (P. 5). AS LATE AS 1439, WELL INTO THE RENAISSANCE, PARIS WAS BESIEGED BY PACKS OF WOLVES.
IN ANCIENT EUROPE THE CELTS STRIPPED THEMSELVES NAKED, SOAKED THEIR HAIR WITH LIME SO THAT IT STOOD UP LIKE A HORSE’S MANE, AND PAINTED THEIR BODIES BLUE AND HOWLED AS THEY RAN INTO WAR.
THE GAULS OF FRANCE ENGAGED IN HUMAN SACRIFICE, WHICH WAS CARRIED OUT BY THEIR “HOLY MEN,” CALLED DRUIDS.
THE SCYTHIANS OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA (UKRAINE) TOOK THE SCALPS OF THEIR VICTIMS, AND USED THE SKULLS AS DRINKING CUPS. (P. 7)
EUROPE LIKES TO IMAGINE THAT IT WAS ALWAYS “CIVILIZED.” BUT EUROPE HAS ITS PRIMITIVE MOMENTS, TOO. PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO TRUMPET ABOUT THE SUPERIORITY OF EUROPE NEED TO BE REMINDED HOW BACKWARD, PRIMITIVE AND BLOODTHIRSTY IT WAS, TOO, ONCE UPON A TIME.
THERE WAS CANNIBALISM IN EUROPE. PAUSANIAS, THE GREEK WRITER, REPORTS (P. 14) THAT AS LATE AS 150 A.D, RITUAL CHILD MURDER AND DISMEMBERMENT AND CANNIBALISM WAS CARRIED OUT IN ARKADIA, IN GREECE.
EGYPT, BY CONTRAST, WAS A HIGHLY ADVANCED SOCIETY IN THE 11TH AND 12TH DYNASTIES (2040-1674 BC, AND SILVER THAT CAME FROM GREEK MINES TURNS UP IN EGYPTIAN TOMBS OF THAT PERIOD. (P. 16).
EVEN AMBER FROM THE BALTIC REGION IN NORTHERN EUROPE HAS BEEN FOUND IN SUNKEN SHIPS, 3300 YEARS OLD (1300 BC) OFF THE COAST OF TURKEY, AND IN CRETE AND EGYPT.
CHAPTER FOUR:
DISCUSSION OF CONSTANTIN DE VOLNEY, FRENCHMAN WHO STUDIED
EGYPT. HE NOTED THAT THE EGYPTIANS WERE YELLOW-BROWN, WITH SWOLLEN EYES,
THICK LIPS, AND THE COUNTENANCE OF A “MULATTO.”
A MULATTO IS A PERSON OF MIXED “CAUCASIAN” AND NEGRO (BLACK AFRICAN) ANCESTRY. HE CONCLUDED THAT THE FACE OF THE SPHINX WAS THAT OF A “NEGRO.”
OTHERS HAVE COMMENTED ON THE PROGNATHOUS JAW OF THE SPHINX. PROGNATHISM HAS BEEN TAKEN TO BE A “BLACK” CHARACTERISTIC. CONCLUSION: THE SPHINX PORTRAYS A BLACK AFRICAN.
HERODOTUS, THE GREEK HISTORIAN, VISITED EGYPT IN 450 BC.
HE WAS AN EYE WITNESS. HE SAID THE EGYPTIANS WERE “MELAGCHROUS,” OR BROWN
COLORED, DARK-SKINNED, PERHAPS BLACK-SKINNED.
AND THEIR HAIR WAS “OULOTRICHES” -WOOLY-HAIRED
AND THEY PRACTICED CIRCUMCISION.
CHAP. 18- IAMBLICHUS, THE BIOGRAPHER OF PYTHAGORAS, INSISTED THAT PYTHAGORAS HAD STUDIED IN EGYPT AND LEARNED MATH THEIR. PYTHAGORAS GIVES THE WEST THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM. POE IS SUGGESTING THAT THROUGH MEN SUCH AS PYTHAGORAS, GREECE LEARNED AND “BORROWED” FROM EGYPT, WHICH WAS AN OLDER CIVILIZATION WHICH THE ANCIENT GREEKS ADMIRED AND REVERED. THERE WAS TRADE AND CULTURE CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND GREECE.
Continuation of lecture, November 20, 2000
EGYPT ALSO GAVE THE WESTERN WORLD A BELIEF IN A HAPPY AFTERLIFE. IN CHAPTER 19 POE ARGUES THAT THE GREEKS, SUMERIANS AND EVEN THE ANCIENT HEBREWS (OLD TESTAMENT) THOUGHT OF LIFE AFTER DEATH AS A GRIM, DISMAL, SHADOWY EXPERIENCE. THE HEBREWS CALLED IT SHEOUL, OR GOING DOWN INTO THE "PIT."
PLATO EMBRACED THE IDEA OF REINCARNATION AND LIFE AFTER DEATH. HIS BOOK PHAEDROS INVOKES A CHARACTER CALLED "THEUTH" (Poe, p. 108-109). BUT THIS IS REALLY THE EGYPTIAN GOD THOTH, THE GOD OF WRITING AND SCIENCE, WHO RECORDS THE VERDICT WHEN OSIRIS JUDGES THE SOUL. GREEKS WHO READ THE PHAEDROS AT THE TIME THAT SOCRATES WROTE IT LAUGHED IT HIS TRANSPARENT IMITATION OF THE EGYPTIANS.
PLATO SAID THAT WE SHOULD DO WHAT IS MORALLY GOOD BECAUSE IT IS PLEASING TO THE GODS, AND THEY WILL JUDGE US AND REWARD US OR PUNISH US ACCORDINGLY, AFTER DEATH. POE SUGGESTS THAT THIS IDEA IS AN IMPORT, BORROWED FROM EGYPT AND THE MYTH OF OSIRIS JUDGING THE DEAD AND GRANTING A HAPPY AFTERLIFE TO THE RIGHTEOUS.
AS FOR THE WEST BORROWING FROM EGYPT, POE NOTES THAT EVEN IN AMERICA, ONE OF OUR GREATEST BUILDINGS IS THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT. IT IS AN IMITATION OF AN EGYPTIAN OBELISK. IN 1934 FDR ORDERED THE PYRAMID WITH THE EYE AT THE TOP PLACED ON OUR DOLLAR BILL. THE GREEKS ALSO IMITATED THE EGYPTIAN FLUTED COLUMNS. ARCHITECTURE IS AN AREA WHERE THE GREEKS BORROWED FROM THE EGYPTIANS.
THERE WAS TRADE BETWEEN GREECE AND EGYPT FROM ANCIENT TIMES. ACCORDING TO GREEK LEGEND, ERECHTHEUS WAS THE FOURTH KING OF ATHENS, AND HIS FAMILY WAS EGYPTIAN. DURING A FAMINE, C. 1408 BC., THE GREEKS EXCHANGED SILVER FOR GRAIN. LARGE QUANTITIES OF SILVER FROM GREECE HAVE BEEN FOUND IN EGYPTIAN TOMBS FROM THE PHARAOHS OF THE 11TH DYNASTY (2040-1991 BC). THIS CORROBORATES THE TRADE BETWEEN GREECE AND EGYPT, IF NOT THE DATE.
CHAP. 23-DISCUSSION OF THE EGYPTIAN NAVY.
THE EGYPTIANS ALSO UTILIZED THE NORTHERN CANAANITES (PHOENICIANS) AS MIDDLEMEN IN THEIR TRADE. THE EGYPTIAN CALLED THE PEOPLE OF MODERN DAY LEBANON "FENEKHU." THIS MAY BE THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD PHOENICIAN. (Chap. 26).
LEADING PORT CITIES OF THE PHOENICIANS WERE BYBLOS, UGARIT, SIDON, TYRE. WHEN EGYPT WAS STRONG, IT RULED CANAAN (MODERN DAY ISRAEL-PALESTINE) AND PHOENICIA. THE PHOENICIANS WERE SEMITIC PEOPLE, LIKE THE ASSYRIANS, BABYLONIANS, AMORITES, HEBREWS, ARABS. THEY SPOKE SEMITIC LANGUAGES.
CARTHAGE, IN NORTH AFRICA, BEGAN AS A COLONY OF PHOENICIA (814 BC) [P. 161]
ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND EVIDENCE OF PHOENCIAN TRADE IN THE ATLANTIC. THEY REACHED THE CAPE VERDE AND AZORE ISLANDS, 1000 MILES WEST OF GIBRALTAR, AND TRADED FOR TIN IN CORNWALL, IN BRITAIN.
EGYPT AND THE GREEK MYTHS
GREEK MYTHOLOGY MAKES SEVERAL REFERENCES TO EGYPT. THERE IS THE STORY OF KADMUS AND EUROPA. SUPPOSEDLY KADMUS WAS A PRINCE OF PHOENICIA (SIDON OR TYRE). ZEUS FELL IN LOVE WITH THE SISTER OF KADMUS. HER NAME WAS EUROPA. ZEUS TOOK THE FORM OF A BULL AND CARRIED HER OFF TO GREECE AND SEDUCED HER. KADMUS CAME AFTER HER. SUPPOSEDLY, KADMUS SETTLED A COLONY IN GREECE, AND WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE CITY OF THEBES, AND BECAME ITS FIRST KING. THE GREEK WRITER HESYCHIOS, 5TH CENTURY A.D., ADDS THAT EUROPA MEANS "DARK ONE’ OR "SUNSET."
EUROPA IS NOT ORIGINALLY A GREEK WORD. IT APPEARS TO BE A PHOENICIAN WORD (UGARITIC). THE AKKADIAN, MESOPOTAMIAN WORD FOR SUNSET IS ERUBU. IN THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES, THERE IS A SIMILAR WORD FOR THE IDEAS SUNSET, DARK AND WEST. EUROPA MAY BE A GREEK VERSION OF A PHOENICIAN GODDESS OF THE SUNSET AND EVENING STAR.
KADMUS DERIVES FROM A PHOENICIAN WORD, QADM, MEANING "EAST" OR "EASTERNER." THUS THE PAIR
KADMUS AND EUROPA IMPLY:
EAST AND WEST
SUNRISE AND SUNSET
DAWN AND DUSK
PHOENICIA THOUGHT OF GREECE AS LYING IN THE "WEST." EGYPT THOUGHT OF GREECE AS NORTHWEST, THE DIRECTION OF THE SUNSET.
THE VERY WORD THAT SIGNIFIES THE CONTINENT NORTH OF AFRICA MAY BE AN IMPORT FROM PHOENICIA.
HOMER CALLED THE OPENING TO HADES "EREBUS." IN THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES, "EREB" IS THE LAND OF THE SUNSET.
(WHO IS COPYING OR BORROWING FROM WHOM?)
LEGEND OF DANAOS
CITY OF ARGOS, IN GREECE, ALSO CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN FOUNDED BY AN EGYPTIAN, DANAOS. IN THE TIME OF HOMER, THE GREEKS WERE NOT YET CALLED GREEKS. THEY WERE CALLED DANAOI, OR DANAANS, AFTER THEIR ANCESTOR DANAOS (THE EGYPTIAN).
THE LEGENDS PROVE NOTHING. BUT WHY WOULD THE GREEKS INVENT LEGENDS LINKING THEMSELVES TO EGYPT? IF THE LEGENDS ARE FABRICATIONS, WHY DID THE GREEKS CHOOSE TO LINK THEMSELVES TO EGYPT (RATHER THAN PERSIA, ASSYRIA, BABYLON?)
EVIDENTLY THEY THOUGHT HIGHLY OF EGYPT.
TRADE AND CULTURE CONTACT
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO ARGUE THAT EGYPT CONQUERED GREECE, OR EVEN THAT CERTAIN CITIES ARE "COLONIES." THERE WAS TRADE AND CULTURE CONTACT. MOST "COLONIES" ARE ACTUALLY TRADING CENTERS.
LEGEND OF ANDROMEDA.
THE GREEKS SAID THAT PERSEUS MARRIED ANDROMEDA. YET ANDROMEDA WAS THE DAUGHTER OF CEPHEUS AND CASSIOPEIA, KING AND QUEEN OF ETHIOPIA. ETHIOPIA IS IN AFRICA, SOUTH OF EGYPT. IT IS AN UNDENIABLY BLACK COUNTRY. WAS ANDROMEDA A BLACK AFRICA? HUMM…
THE ROMAN POET OVID SAID THAT ANDROMEDA WAS "FUSCA," OR DARK.
STEP PYRAMIDS IN GREECE
ON P. 326, POE DISCUSSES THE WORK OF THE GREEK ARCHAEOLOGIST THEODORE SPYROPOULOS. HE EXCAVATED A MOUND AT AMPHION, NEAR THEBES, IN GREECE. THERE HE FOUND THE REMAINS OF A THREE-STEP PYRAMID, DATING FROM THE EARLY HELLADIC II PERIOD (2900-2400 B.C.). IMITATION OF THE STEP PYRAMID OF IMHOTEP?
NOR IS THE AMPHION STEP PYRAMID THE ONLY ONE. AT ELLINIKO, NEAR ARGOS, THE RUINS OF ANOTHER PYRAMIDAL BUILDING FROM THE EARLY HELLADIC II PERIOD CAN STILL BE SEEN (PHOTO, PRECEDES P. 267). ACCORDING TO LEGEND, IT WAS BUILT BY TWO TWIN BROTHERS, PROTEUS AND AKRISIOS, THE GREAT-GRANDSONS OF DANAOS (THE EGYPTIAN). (P. 327).
LINGUISTIC CLUES
THE LINGUIST MARTIN BERNAL CLAIMS (BLACK ATHENA) THAT 20% OF GREEK WORDS ARE PHOENICIAN IN ORIGIN, AND 20-25% ARE EGYPTIAN IN ORIGIN (P. 336).
THE ARYAN REVOLUTION
THE ANCIENT GREEKS THEMSELVES SAID THAT THEIR COUNTRY HAD BEEN COLONIZED AND CIVILIZED BY EXPLORERS FROM ACROSS THE SEA, SUCH AS KADMUS THE PHOENICIAN AND DANAOS THE EGYPTIAN. BUT IN THE 1800S THE ARYAN MODEL OF GOBINEAU EMERGED, AND BRITAIN AND GERMANY INSISTED UPON THE SUPERIORITY OF THE WHITE EUROPEAN RACE. GREEK LEGENDS POINTING TO THE SEMITIC PHOENICIANS (GOBINEAU HATED THE JEWS AND SEMITIC PEOPLE) AND THE AFRICAN EGYPTIANS BECAME AN EMBARRASSMENT.
GOBINEAU ARGUED THAT HAM, THE SON OF NOAH, WHO WAS WHITE, HAD MARRIED WITH BLACKS AND PRODUCED THE MULATTO, "MONGRELIZED" CIVILIZATION OF EGYPT.’
AND HE SAID THAT SHEM, THE ANCESTOR OF THE SEMITES (JEWS, ARABS, MESOPOTAMIANS) HAD INTERMARRIED WITH THE "HAMITES" AND EGYPTIANS. THEREFORE THE SEMITES BECAME "IMPURE" AND CONTAMINATED WITH BLACK BLOOD. (P. 497)
THEREFORE, THE MASTER RACE EGYPTOLOGISTS WANTED TO "SAVE" GREEK "CIVILIZATION" FROM ITS LOWLY SEMITIC AND EGYPTIAN-HAMITIC ORIGINS. THE PHOENICIANS, JEWS AND EGYPTIANS WERE ALL UNACCEPTABLE TO GOBINEAU BECAUSE THEY WERE, AT THE VERY LEAST "PART BLACK."
THEY WERE NO LONGER "WELCOME" AS PART OF THE STORY OF GREECE.
SO GOBINEAU AND THE ARYAN MODEL "SCHOLARS" INSISTED THAT BLOND, BLUE-EYED ARYANS FROM THE NORTH HAD INVADED AND CONQUERED AND CIVILIZED GREECE. The "DORIANS"were "ARYANIZED". THE STORIES THAT THE ANCIENT GREEKS TOLD ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE SEMITIC PHOENICIANS AND "MULATTO" EGYPTIANS WERE NO LONGER "SCIENTTIFIC."
THE EFFORT TO DE-SEMITICIZE AND DE-AFRICANIZE GREECE BEGAN IN THE 1800S. THIS REFLECTS POLITICAL PROPAGANDA AND IDEOLOGY BEING INJECTED INTO THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT PAST.
HERODOTUS SAID THAT THE ETHIOPIANS (NUBIANS) ARE THE TALLEST AND BEST-LOOKING PEOPLE IN THE WORLD (P. 345-349). HOMER SPOKE OF THE "BLAMELESS ETHIOPIANS."
AND HERODOTUS SPOKE OF THE "AITHOPES," THE SUN-BURNED PEOPLE.
EGYPTIANS PORTRYED THEMSELVES AS BROWN
THE EGYPTIANS ALSO PAINTED VARIOUS ETHNIC GROUPS DIFFERENT COLORS, AND HAD DIFFERENT NAMES FOR THEM.
THE REDDISH-BROWN EGYPTIANS
(KMT)
SYRO-PALESTINEANS (AA’MU)
KUSHITES (NHSYW or Nehasyu)
LIBYANS (TJHNW) –LIGHT, white
ON P. 399 POE MENTIONS A LEGEND TOLD BY DIODORUS. HE SAID THAT THE EGYPTIANS CLAIMED THAT THEY HAD BEGUN AS A CLONY OF THE ETHIOPIANS, THE NUBIANS, WITH OSIRIS AS THE LEADER OF THE COLONY. THIS LEGEND IS ALL THE MORE INTERESTING IN VIEW OF THE QUSTUL INCENSE BURNER, AND THE LINK BETWEEN NARMER AND TA-SETI.
AFRO-ASIATIC SUPER-FAMILY OF LANGUAGES
IN CHAPTER 66 POE ALSO DISCUSSES THE DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES. THE LANGUAGES OF SOUTHWEST ASIA ARE SEMITIC LANGUAGES. AND THEY ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES OF EUROPE, TURKEY, IRAN, CENTRAL ASIA, PAKISTAN AND INDIA. THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE, TURKEY, CENTRAL ASIA, IRAN, AFGHANISTAN AND NORTHERN INDIA ARE RELATED GENETICALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY. BUT THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES OF SOUTHWEST ASIA (IRAQ, MESOPOTAMIA, SYRIA, PALESTINE, ARABIA) ARE MORE CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LANGUAGES OF AFRICA. MORE SEMITIC LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN IN ETHIOPIA THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. THE LANGUAGES OF AFRICA CLUSTER INTO FOUR GROUPS
1.NIGER-CONGO (SUB-SHARAN)
2.NILO-SAHARAN
3.KHOISAN
4. AFRO-ASIATIC"
AFRO-ASIATIC IN TURN IS MADE UP OF KUSHITIC, EGYPTIAN,
BERBER, CHADIC AND SEMITIC. SEMITIC IS DIVIDED INTO ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN,
CANAANITE, AMORITE, HEBREW, ARABIC, AMHARIC, ETC.
IT CANNOT BE SAID, OFTEN ENOUGH, THAT EGYPT WAS
AND STILL IS IN AFRICA. IT IS AN AFRICAN CIVLIZATION (SINCE 640 A.D.,
AND TODAY, CULTURALLY, IT IS ARAB). THE EGYPTIANS WERE BLACK AND BROWN,
AND AT THE VERY LEAST WERE A MIXED-RACE AFRO-SEMITIC OR AFRO-ASIATIC PEOPLE.
BY THE ONE-DROP RULE, THEY DEFINITELY WERE BLACK.