Why would there be so much confusion of who and what is an African? Read on...
The word 'Africa' (not
the people) is said to have Greek and Roman origins. The people who are called
“Africans” do not originate at the
time when Greeks or Romans first called them “Africans.” They existed before they were called as such and they did
not need Greek or Roman validation.
The word is most likely to have come from the Greek word 'Aphrike' (a land without cold or a warm
land) or Latin word 'Aprica' (sunny).
In this instance, both the Greek and Latin words have similar meanings.
Moorish traveler and historian Leo Africanus (1488–1554) or Hassan Al Wazan, suggested
the Greek word ‘phrike’ (meaning
'cold and horror'), combined with the privative prefix 'a-', thus indicating a
land free of cold and horror. It is then believed that Arab immigrants later
'Arabised' the name to 'Ifrigiya' and
later evolved to become 'Afrika'. –
Leo Africanus, “The History and
Description of Africa and the Notable Things Therein Contained” (1896).
English Egyptologist Gerald Massey (1828-1907) derived an
Egyptian etymology for the Roman word ‘Africa’ from the Egyptian ‘af-rui-ka’
which literally means ‘to turn toward the
opening of the Ka.’ The “Ka” is
the invisible cosmic aspect or vital energy of every person and ‘opening of the Ka’ refers to a womb or
birthplace. Therefore, ‘AfriKa’ means ‘connected
to the source of Life’ (‘A Book of the Beginnings,’ Vol I, 1881, www.masseiana.org/bbbk0.htm Retrieved August 23, 2009).
Ancient Egyptians (from around 4,500 BCE to around 333 BCE)
called themselves ‘Kemetiu’ (black or
dark-brown skinned people), and their land, KMT.
“Kemet” ("keh-MET") means "Black Land," in reference to the
fertile banks and fields surrounding the Nile (black from the soil) and the
colour of the people. This also meant the
“land of the neteru (divinities).” -
Wörterbuch der Aegyptischen Sprache (Dictionary
of the Egyptian Language). Please for more read, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Km_(hieroglyph)
Therefore, an “African” is one whose dark brown skin
pigmentation, facial features and hair texture is based on the high level of melanin
content.
Ethiopians
Greeks also referred to Africa and Africans as Ethiopia and
Ethiopians, respectively. The name “Ethiopia” is taken from a Greek expression
meaning "burnt faces". The
Greeks applied this term to the Kushite kingdom and Africans in general. Therefore,
the name "Ethiopian" comes
from Greeks, the land of the ‘burnt-faced men’ (Aithiopgs). When they encountered the Afri-Kans, they called them
"burnt faces." In Greek,
the word for burnt was “ethios,” and
the word for face was “opa.”
In the
fourth century CE, the kings of Aksum began to use the Greek term (Aithiopia) for their own country when
they wrote in Greek. A trilingual inscription of Ezana, the king who converted
to Christianity about 340 CE employs both names. This is the first known use of
the word 'Ethiopia' by one of its own rulers to describe part of the modern
country. The land was usually called ‘Aksum,’
after its capital.
Ethiopia was also known as ‘Abyssinia’ derived from Arabian
and Aksumite sources (written in the ancient Ethiopian language known as Ge'ez). This arises from Habash people
who inhabited the Ethiopian empire.
Stephanus of Byzantium, who is said to
represent the opinions of the most ancient Greeks, said: “Ethiopia was the first established country on the earth, and the
Ethiopians were the first who introduced the worship of the (divine) and who
established laws." - quoted by John D. Baldwin, ‘Pre-Historic Nations; or, Inquiries Concerning Some of the Great
Peoples and Civilizations of Antiquity’ (New York, Harper, 1869, p. 62).
The Greek Homer, who came before Herodotus (the known father
of European history) described Ethiopians as "The most just of men; the favourites of the deities. Jupiter
today, followed by all the deities, receives the sacrifices of the
Ethiopians." - Iliad, 1,
422.
Homer also wrote: "Upon
the great Atlantic, near the isle of Erithrea, for its pastures famed, the
sacred race of Ethiopians dwell." He also tells how the Greek deities
used to go on their feast days to Ethiopia to commune with their ancestors. - J
Bryant, 'Analv. of Ancient Mythology'.
Aristotle -
"Why are the Ethiopians and
Egyptians bandy legged? Is it because of that the body of itself creates,
because of disturbance by heat, like loss of wood when they become dry? The
condition of their hair supports this theory; for it is curlier than that of
other nations..." (Problemata 909, 7.)
Egyptians
The English word 'Egypt'
is derived from the Greek word 'Aigyptos'
(or 'Aiguptos') and the Romans
changed it into ‘Aegyptus’
(Ae-gyp-t-os).
The Greek word was very close to the origins as Africans of
ancient Egypt referred to themselves as ‘Gypti,’
or ‘Geb-ti,’ which means 'Children (or coming out) of Geb'. ‘Geb’ was the Divine, the Cosmic Energy
or Life Force personifying the earth, which was dark colour of the soil of
their land. The Greek travellers, unaware of the meaning of the term ‘Geb-ti,’ used it to call the country ‘Ae-gyp-t-os.’
The Greek word 'Aiguptos' is also linked to the reference
of the area occupied by Africa, which was called the 'Land of ‘Ka’ of ‘Ptah'. ‘Ka’ is the spiritual image and Ptah was said to be the
chief ancestor and considered to have created the universe through intelligence
or the heart, ‘Sia,’ in ancient
Egypt’ and creative utterance, ‘Logos’
(Reason) or “Hu/Huh” (the divine creative utterance) in ancient Egypt.
Ptah was considered to hold the symbols of life, stability and good fortune. He
was regarded as the patron of craftsmen and was adopted by the Greeks as Hephaestus.
"The earliest accounts which we have of Egypt and Chaldea reveal the
fact that at a very remote period they were old and powerful civilizations,
that they had a settled government, a pure and philosophical religion, and a
profound knowledge of science and art; yet, notwithstanding the great antiquity
of these civilizations, that of the people which created them must have been
infinitely more remote." - Eliza Burt Gamble, ‘The God-Idea of the Ancients’ (1897, www.gutenberg.org/files/639/639-h/639-h.htm Retrieved June, 2005).
A Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus (90-60
BCE) "...Egyptians have not only
been accepted by the present inhabitants but have aroused no little admiration
among the Greeks; and for that reason those men who have won the greatest
repute in intellectual things have been eager to visit Egypt in order to
acquaint themselves with its laws and institutions, which they considered to be
worthy of note. For despite the fact that for reasons mentioned above strangers
found it difficult in early times to enter the country, it was nevertheless
eagerly visited by Orpheus and the poet Homer in the earliest times and in later
times by many others, such as Pythagoras of Samos and Solon the lawgiver." (Diodorus Siculus, Book I. 68), www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html.
“In
general, they say, the Greeks appropriate to themselves the most renowned of
both Egyptian heroes and (divinities), and also the colonies sent out by them.”
(Diodorus Siculus, Book I. 23).
When a Greek called Solon made an
enquiry about wisdom to an ancient Egyptian priest, he received a response
thus, “O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are
always children, nor is there an old man among you! Having no ancient
traditions nor any acquaintance with chronology, you are as yet in a state of
intellectual infancy. The true origin of such mutilated fables as you possess
is this. There have been and shall again be in the course of many revolving
ages, numerous destructions of the human race; the greatest of them by fire and
water, but others in an almost endless succession of shorter intervals."
- quoted by Plato, quoted by Eliza Burt Gamble, ‘The God-Idea of the Ancients’ (1897, http://www.authorama.com/god-idea-of-the-ancients-6.html Retrieved February, 2005).
A contemporary
of Socrates and another Greek historian, Herodotus (484-425 BCE), said, "The Egyptians were also the first to
introduce solemn assemblies, processions, and litanies to the gods; of all
which the Greeks were taught the use by them. It seems to me a sufficient proof
of this that in Egypt these practices have been established from remote
antiquity, while in Greece they are only recently known.” – Herodotus, http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html.
Greek novelist
and rhetorician, Lucian of Samosata (c. 125 CE – after 180 CE), describing an
Egyptian, "this (Egyptian) boy is
not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin."
A fourth-century
Roman soldier and historian, Ammiuanus Marcellinus "...the men of Egypt are mostly brown or black with a skinny
desiccated look." www.gutenberg.org/files/28587/28587-h/28587-h.htm
A British historian
and politician, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) judged Ammiuanus "an accurate and faithful guide, who composed
the history of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which
usually affect the mind of a contemporary." - Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, Chapter 26.5, www.ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/files/decline.html.
Egyptologist
Abbe Emile Amelineau (1850-1916): "From
various Egyptian legends, I have been able to conclude that the populations
settled in the Nile Valley were Negroes, since the (feminine cosmic power) Isis
was said to have been a reddish-black woman."
Mainstream European historiography has
either taken ancient Egypt (Kemet or KMT) out of Africa by designating it as a
part of the ancient ‘Near East', ancient India or considered it intellectually
to be in Africa (since geographically it is already in Africa) but seek to take
the dark-skinned people out of it by de-Africanizing it.
Sir Richard
Francis Burton, a 19th century English explorer, writer and linguist in 1883
wrote to Gerald Massey, "You are quite right about the
"AFRICAN" origin of the Egyptians. I have 100 human skulls to prove
it."
A scientist,
James C. Prichard, states in his book ‘The
Natural History of Man’, "In their complex and many of the
complexions and in physical peculiarities the Egyptians were an "AFRICAN" race
(p 124-125).
Europe's first or earliest Greek
historian, Herodotus (425 BCE? - 484 BCE?) who visited ancient Egypt in 450 BCE
said, "the Egyptians and Ethiopians
have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are of burnt skin. The
Egyptians and the Ethiopians have circumcised from the start".
Anthropologist,
Count Constatin de Volney (1727-1820), spoke about the race of Africans of
Egypt that produced the Pharaohs. He later paid tribute to Herodotus' discovery
when he said: “The ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all native
born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood mixed for several
centuries with that of the Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of
it's original color, while retaining none the less the imprint of it's original
mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face (referring to The
Sphinx) is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest to or shed light
on historical evidence on the origins of the people."
The fact that
the Africans of ancient Egypt were blacks or dark-skinned prompted Volney to
make the following statement: "What a subject for meditation, just think
that the race of black men today our slaves and the object of our scorn, is the
very race to which we owe our arts, science and even the use of our
speech."
This proves that well before the 17/18th
century Western racist theories, Greeks viewed the dark-skinned people of
Africa as full humans! Modern educational curriculum in African countries lacks
this knowledge.
Herodotus also said and it is generally
known that ancient Egyptians had due regard for the principles of geometry and
1.
were the founders of architecture as they were the first who erected
altars, shrines and temples;
2.
were the first to provide explanation of the immortality of the cosmic breath;
3.
first made “the most celebrated
astronomical observations and inventions" related to the cyclic times
(day, week, month and year) around the behaviour of the Nile river; divided the
year into twelve months influenced by the four cyclic seasonal (periodical) changes;
and gave significance and names to the planetary and zodiacal structure.
Ordinarily, time has four aspects:
1.
The day (“the period of time
necessary for the earth's revolution on its axis”) was measured by the
movement of the sun (sunrise, midday and sunset).
2.
The seven days in a week were to do with the seven stages of human
development corresponding to the seven planetary bodies.
3.
The twelve months (‘moon-ths’)
(“the changes in the relative positions
of the moon and the earth”) were measured and based on the successive
phases of the moon.
4.
The year was the measurement of the passage of the sun through the zodiacal
circle consisting of twelve portions of the movement of the moon or “the time occupied by the earth in its
revolution around the sun.”
The word "zodiac" consists of the Greek root, "zoe," meaning "life," and
"dia" meaning "through." Combined,
"zodiac" means through "through
life" or "path through life."
The word is derived from Greek
zōidiakos, from zōidion ‘sculptured
animal figure.’
The zodiac was a cryptic language using animal
figures expressing the inner nature and constitution of humanity as a
microcosmic representation of the earth’s movement around the sun. The earth
"travels" around the sun and completes the circle of 360 divisions in
“twelve 30 degrees divisions of celestial
longitude, which are centred upon the ecliptic.” The “degrees,” “divisions”
and “circle” are the days and months (moons) and year, respectively.
The twelve months (the cycles of the moon) correspond with the astronomical constellations
called 'mazzaroth' in Hebrew,
referred to in Job 38:31-32. Strong's Greek Concordance (H4216) defines ‘mazzaroth’ or ‘mazzarah’ as "the 12
signs of the Zodiac and their 36 associated constellations."
"The divine made two great
lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the
night." - Genesis 1:16. “(The
divine is) the one who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon. Each
one is traveling in an orbit with its own motion” - Qur’an 21:33 and “Did you see how Allah created seven heavens,
one above the other, and made in them the moon a light and the sun a lamp?"
- Qur’an 78:12-13. This means the sun is a celestial body in a state of permanent
combustion producing both light and heat, whereas the moon is an inactive body,
which reflects light of the lamp, i.e. the sun.
The seasonal changes of the year caused by the sun
correspond with the physical stages of a human – 1) Winter (North) – 2) Spring
(East) – 3) Summer (South) – 4) Autumn (West) as being equivalent to 1) Conception
and Birth, 2) Infancy and Growth, 3) Adolescence-Maturity 4) Old Age and Death,
respectively.
The English word, “hour” is derived
from Greek “hora” whose root is
ancient Egyptian “Horus.” “Greek hora could mean "a season; 'the
season' (spring or summer)." In classical times it sometimes meant "a
part of the day," such as morning, evening, noon, night. The Greek
astronomers apparently borrowed the notion of dividing the day into twelve
parts (mentioned in Herodotus) from” ancient Egyptians. www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hour
Now that you know who and what is an African, what you gonna do with that? Be an agent of truth, goodness and beauty.
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