The Student Room Group

Were the Ancient Egyptians black?

I read this Wikipedia article, in light of the claims of whitewashing in the film Exodus, and I have yet to reach a viewpoint due to all the conflicting claims.

Thoughts?
Reply 1
I believe Ancient Egypt was a multicultural society. I don't like to use the word black but there were definitely people of colour there.
Reply 2
No they were not only or even mainly black, as in sub saharan african negroids, the african negroids were in what was called nubia which is now southern egypt and northern sudan and was not part of ancient egypt, they may have been african negroids in ancient egypt but they were not the majority and not the rulers, the rulers were probably mainly brown skinned but not african negroids.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 3
If you look at the tomb scenes at Beni Hassan you will find that the people depicted had olive, almost brown skin. No doubt some of the ancient Egyptian population were made up of darker skin tones, and some of the royal families were negroid, very dark skinned, almost black like those of the Ethiopians. The lighter skinned people depicted in ancient Egyptian scenes were of Middle Eastern ancestry, the Amu, which the Egyptians employed as serfs. Some of the oldest Kings and Queens were likely of Ethiopian descent. Most of Egypt's religion and culture can be traced to the Eastern Desert, as evidenced from the Wadis like the Barrimiya and Kanais.
Reply 4
Original post by Lady Comstock
I read this Wikipedia article, in light of the claims of whitewashing in the film Exodus, and I have yet to reach a viewpoint due to all the conflicting claims.

Thoughts?


Depends on what you would call "black". I understand I've opened with a risky opening. However, I like to think of them as brown, olive skinned. Like the other people on this forum. But I've honestly never thought of it that much. I focus on the achievements of the people themselves or my favorite pharaoh, or my favorite kingdom. Like the Old Kingdom, as it was full of pyramid builders. E.g Sneferu, who built the first 'True' pyramid, Khufu who built the Great Pyramid of Giza and Khafra, Khufu's son, who built the Pyramid of Khafra (surprise!) which is smaller than the Pyramid of Giza, however it looks bigger as Khafra built on elevelted ground to create the illusion of it appearing bigger (Ancient Egyptians were the original propaganda artists) I would list Narmer, but techinly he was before the Old kingdom existed, as he was responsible for the unification of upper and lower Egypt. Anyways the Anicent Egyptians were a mix of different cultures, check out the Hykos. They were a nomadic group of people who were their own mix of cultures, who took over Egypt for a bit in the Middle Kingdom. Hope that's helped, sorry for the little history lesson, I got a bit carried away.
Reply 5
Original post by Sneferu
Depends on what you would call "black". I understand I've opened with a risky opening. However, I like to think of them as brown, olive skinned. Like the other people on this forum. But I've honestly never thought of it that much. I focus on the achievements of the people themselves or my favorite pharaoh, or my favorite kingdom. Like the Old Kingdom, as it was full of pyramid builders. E.g Sneferu, who built the first 'True' pyramid, Khufu who built the Great Pyramid of Giza and Khafra, Khufu's son, who built the Pyramid of Khafra (surprise!) which is smaller than the Pyramid of Giza, however it looks bigger as Khafra built on elevelted ground to create the illusion of it appearing bigger (Ancient Egyptians were the original propaganda artists) I would list Narmer, but techinly he was before the Old kingdom existed, as he was responsible for the unification of upper and lower Egypt. Anyways the Anicent Egyptians were a mix of different cultures, check out the Hykos. They were a nomadic group of people who were their own mix of cultures, who took over Egypt for a bit in the Middle Kingdom. Hope that's helped, sorry for the little history lesson, I got a bit carried away.


The only reason for thinking that Khufu built the GP is because his name is inscribed on its walls. However, the name is a forgery, presumed to be the work of Howard Vyse. The other ascription is from the workers, but these were just artisans. The actual builders of the pyramid is unknown, and if the age of the nearby boat pits are anything to go by, the GP is very old indeed, predating Khufu's reign.
Yes, I think so.
But only part negriod.

Black is a social concept.

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Stupid people who believe colour = race.


Just lol mate.

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Reply 8
Original post by Lady Comstock
Well who (or what) do you reckon built it then?


One theory suggests that the people who built it where the same group of people who built Stonehenge. The odd thing about the GP is that it was left uninscribed before Khufu came along. All other pyramids have names and inscriptions in them. The GP was left without any signature. Very odd.
(edited 9 years ago)
No I think they were fair skinned and/or nut brown as opposed to black
Reply 10
The Wikipedia article suggests that the consensus of modern scholarship is that Egypt was a diverse culture that didn't really assign any weight to infantile notions of race, although by modern American standards the Egyptians would have been 'black' - even light-brown people are often referred to as 'black' - but looks like it was quite diverse.
Original post by Lady Comstock
(..,)
Thoughts?


The blacks might be slaves from other countries in Africa who were dragged to Egypt where the black people have increased their population.
It seems surprisingly hard to tell, even for individuals - they can't decide what colour Tutankhamen was, and they have his body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_race_controversy
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Martyn*
The only reason for thinking that Khufu built the GP is because his name is inscribed on its walls. However, the name is a forgery, presumed to be the work of Howard Vyse. The other ascription is from the workers, but these were just artisans. The actual builders of the pyramid is unknown, and if the age of the nearby boat pits are anything to go by, the GP is very old indeed, predating Khufu's reign.

I'm supposed to be an archaeology student, why don't I know this? :eek: Could you give me a link to where ever you found this from?
Original post by Dani California
I'm supposed to be an archaeology student, why don't I know this? :eek: Could you give me a link to where ever you found this from?


I found it mentioned in The Phoenix Solution. Read the book. It is pretty good. The actual information is found at the begining at the book, and he quotes primary sources. The discussion is the inscription of Khufu's name, which is clearly written wrong and written by Vyse himself, who wanted to make a name for himself before he arrived back to England. Whoever wrote the name was not aware that you don't spell Khufu that way. Additionally, Khufu would not have had time to create the pyramid and create his own tomb as well. So here is the notion for thinking that Khufu did not build that pyramid. The book also gives other intriguing points as to why Khufu could not have built the pyramid. As for the boat pits they are actually dated before Khufu's reign, and here is the clincher: the boats were placed after the pyramid was built. However, the wood could have been old and the boats made later. We just don't know.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Martyn*
I found it mentioned The Phoenix Solution. Read the book. It is pretty good. The actual information is found at the begining at the book, and he quotes primary sources. The discussion is the inscription of Khufu's name, which is clearly written wrong. Whoever wrote the name was not aware that you don't spell Khufu that way. Additionally, Khufu would not have had time to cerate the pyramid and create his own tomb as well. So here is the notion for thinking that Khufu did not build that pyramid. The book also gives other intriguing points as to why Khufu could not have built the pyramid.

Sounds interesting, thank you. :smile:
Original post by Dani California
Sounds interesting, thank you. :smile:
I did not finish what I was about to say. Check the post again.
Original post by Dani California
Sounds interesting, thank you. :smile:


Don't believe him. He's the resident conspiracy theorist here. The author he cited is a well known progenitor of the "Ancient Astronauts theory" and the citation on the Great Pyramid is substantiated and given verisimilitude by several ancient sources, Herodotus, another Egytpian chronicler and others (I can give their names if you want but can't recall relatively interocular sources from memory)
Also Egyptologists and scanning reveals it's made to algorolithim of what was said to be by workers (whom concede in stone written form they worked for the Pharoah) by all accounts any obscurantism about his construction of it is due to many workers dying at his behest so had his legacy balefully tarnished once dead.
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(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by AntisthenesDogger
Don't believe him. He's the resident conspiracy theorist here. The author he cited is a well known progenitor of the "Ancient Astronauts theory" and the citation on the Great Pyramid is substantiated and given verisimilitude by several ancient sources, Herodotus, another Egytpian chronicler and others (I can give their names if you want but can't recall relatively interocular sources from memory)
Also Egyptologists and scanning reveals it's made to algorolithim of what was said to be by workers (whom concede in stone written form they worked for the Pharoah) by all accounts any obscurantism about his construction of it is due to many workers dying at his behest so had his legacy balefully tarnished once dead.
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Thank you, I wasn't going to say anything. I generally leave people to believe what they want. I have read extensively and have never seen the name "Howard Vyse" before. A good source is "the rise and fall of Ancient Egypt", written by Toby Wilkinson. Though it is brief on the reign of Khufu, it does cover the whole history of Egypt, from Narmer to Cleopatra. Missing out the neolithic.

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