In "Egypt: Child of Africa", 1995, Ivan van Ser-tima,ed., we read:
"This painting from the tomb of Ramses III shows that the Egyptians saw themselves as Blacks and painted themselves as such....Throughout their entire history the Egyptians never [portrayed themselves otherwise]."
The author of this statement was either profound-ly ignorant of his subject or a liar, as I will show.
First, with regard to the painting, the figure which is identified as the "Indo-European" wears the EXTREMELY distinctive Egyptian side-lock.
In the Book of the Dead papyri of Ani and Hunef-er, both painted in naturalistic hues, the great majority of humans and deities are depicted with light or caucasoid skin coloration.
The painted statue heads of Tutankhamun, Neferti-ti, Lady Nefert (IV Dyn.) and numerous others, are light-skinned. Another "high born lady" of the IV Dyn. is depicted with black hair, black eyeliner, red lipstick, and skin like mine (I'm Scottish/French). All these light-skinned Egyp-tians have corresponding non-negro facial arch-itecture.
Unpainted portrait sculptures of pharaohs display-ing distinctively non-negro traits include Thut- mosis III, Ramses II, Hatshepsut, Phiops I, Myker-inus, Kephren (fr. Cyril Aldred's "The Egypti-ans",1961), and Sesostris III (fr. Campbell's
"The Mythic Image", 1974). The same may be said for many of their queens and viziers.
Another point to recognize and consider is that several of the pharaohs and nobles of Egypt sport-ed aquiline noses. I mean real eagle-beaks. Ram-ses II and Ynaa, father-in-law of Amenhotep, fall into this truly non-negroid catagory. Ynaa's well-preserved mummy head has its wavy, light-colored hair intact. His wife Tiy, however, is clearly negroid, with nappy black hair intact. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS MUST BE FULLY GRASPED. The aquiline nose is thought to be a Semitic or Armen-ian trait and Aldred mentions "the aggressive Armenoid features of Sa-nakht and his brother Djo-ser."
Finally, at Amarna, in the studio of the sculptor of Nefertiti's bust, were found a number of plas-ter casts of living subjects. I'm looking at pho-tos of them as I write and if these aren't Europe-ans I'll eat a bug. I didn't say "caucasoids", I said EUROPEANS. Indeed the source caption says they "reveal definately European features." The subjects are clearly commoners.
I conclude with the translation from a boundary stele from the reign of Sesostris III, as given by Breasted in "A History of Egypt", 1909 (p. 184)
"SOUTHERN BOUNDARY MADE IN THE YEAR 8, UNDER THE MAJESTY OF THE KING OF UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT, SES-OSTRIS III, WHO IS GIVEN LIFE FOR EVER AND EVER;-
IN ORDER TO PREVENT THAT ANY NEGRO SHOULD CROSS IT BY LAND, WITH A SHIP, OR ANY HERDS OF THE NEGROES; EXCEPT A NEGRO WHO SHALL CROSS IT TO DO TRADING...OR WITH A COMMISSION. ALL KIND TREAT-MENT SHALL BE ACCORDED THEM, BUT WITHOUT ALLOWING A SHIP OF THE NEGROES TO PASS BY HEH [Semneh] GO-ING DOWNSTREAM, FOREVER."
This text will be despised by all propagandists of the van Sertima camp, and so its authenticity will be attacked. Harder to dispute are the non-negro features of Sesostris III and the ruins of the great fortress at Semneh.
The truth of the matter is this: Egypt was a multi-racial society. Its language was Semito/Ham-itic in structure. Its earliest true architecture was Mesopotamian in style and materials., and at least one pharaoh thought it was at risk of being overrun from the south.
All the examples presented here were compiled in my little home library in about 25 minutes. They represent a small fraction of the available data.
"Black Egypt" is a racist myth which should be nipped in the bud. Todd Greaves trgimp@yahoo.com