Ancient Egyptian Scribes

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Ancient Egypt and Black Africa Review

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(More customer reviews)Dr. Theophile Obenga has written a great book showing the African background to Greek philosophy. The book traces the Greek student's routes when travelling to Egypt in addition to providing the words of the students themselves and their references to learning in Egypt. Dr. Obenga's mastery of ancient Greek and Medu Netcher (hieroglyphics) provides the reader with the words of the ancients themselves. This book should be required reading for all college students. Dr. Obenga's arguments make the book, Not Out of Africa, by Mary Lefkowitz seem almost juvenile.

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Daily Life of the Nubians (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)A wonderfully thorough examination of Nubian culture and history. It takes also the advantage of have no clear competing title on the market. This fair, archaeological account of the Nubian people is readable and offers some (but not too much) comparison to the Egyptian and Greek states that rose up around it.

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Until recently little was known about ancient Nubia and day-to-day lives of the Nubian people aside from knowing it was a civilization contemporary with, distinct from, and living under the shadow of Ancient Egypt. Nubia existed from about 3500-300 BCE, close to 3,000 years. Thanks to recent massive archeological surveys, we now have a much clearer picture of Nubian civilization, what they ate, how they dressed, how they cared for their dead, their military triumphs and defeats, where their cities were built, and what they looked like. Of course they underwent dramatic changes over time, and these are noted where appropriate. Though often confused with the Ethiopians of Greek lore, little doubt remains that Nubians were in fact black African peoples, and their civilization has been claimed by many as proof of a sophisticated and ancient black African society.

For ease of use by students, the work is organized chronologically. Each chapter is divided into convenient subheads that detail military and warfare, government, language, relations with neighboring civilizations; work and the economy, engineering and architecture, housing, transportation, family life, life cycle events, women's roles, art, music and dance, literature, science, and religion. It includes a historical timeline of Nubian history, a glossary of Nubian terms, and a bibliography for further reading. Throughout the work, Bianchi, an expert on the Nubians, shows how the modern world has little by little come to discover and recognize the distinctiveness and importance of Nubia in ancient history. This work will replace all earlier resources on Nubian life and will provide school and public librarians with the most up-to-date and historically correct information on the Nubians.

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The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality Review

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(More customer reviews)This book has obviously angered (a few) people, so much so that they have gone above and beyond the call of duty as reviewers to invent several screen names and post their ire-filled opinions over and over. The fact is that this book is well written, well researched, and well referenced. The author does not ignore contrary opinions, but in fact takes great steps to address and dispel seemingly legitimate arguments. As a dedicated historian, and skeptic of nearly all Afro-centric writings, I can honestly say that this book is far more than the sublimated racism some readers would have you believe it to be. Those with a willingness to read the book and do their own un-biased follow-up research will find it well worth the effort.

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Book of the Beginnings, Part 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the first of three great books by Gerald Massey on the relation between all the world's religions, cultures and languages and the ancient Egyptian that is, in itself, rooted in the lake region of Central Africa at the source of the Nile. In the first volume of this book, Massey discusses the extremely ancient origins of Egypt and then goes into great detail and depth in showing how the British Druidic culture is Egyptian in its origin. Volume two does the same for the ancient Hebrew culture. These books are a gold mine, They are filled with detail upon inspiring detail. See my review of *Natural Genesis.* Massey's books are indespensible for anyone interested in the great African cultures, the British Druidic culture, the origins of the Hebrew culture, the problems of Christianity, the origins of Buddhism, and the origins of all the world's myths, including the biblical legends, and languages; he shows Egyptian words that show up in a very large number of languages including even the American Indian, Maori, Japanese, Chinese, European, African and so on. Massey focuses through his volumes on the British Druidic, Hebrew, and Christian traditions, and explores in extraordinary depth the Egyptian, and its root culture deep in Africa. Anyone who studies the African traditions can easily see the connections of Massey's findings with the African traditions. Egypt goes back hundreds of thousands of years and comes from the same root as all the other African traditions. All of Massey's books are published by BCP (Black Classics Press).

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Volume one of a two volume set. (This description is for all volumes.) Containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute the lost origins of the myths and mysteries, types and symbols, religion and language, with Egypt for the mouthpiece and Africa as the birthplace.Vol. I, Egyptian origins in the British Isles; Egypt; Comparative vocabulary of English and Egyptian words; Hieroglyphics in Britain; Egyptian origins in words; Egyptian water-names; Egyptian names of personages; British symbolical customs and Egyptian naming; Egyptian deities in the British Isles; Egyptian place-names and the record of the stones; Type-names of the people.Vol. II; Comparative vocabulary of Hebrew and Egyptian words; Hebrew cruxes with Egyptian illustrations; Egyptian origins in the Hebrew scriptures, religion, language, and letters; The phenomenal origin of Jehovah-Elohim; Egyptian origin of the Exodus; Moses and Joshua, or the two Lion-Gods of Egypt; An Egyptian dynasty of Hebrew deities identified from the monuments; The Egyptian origin of the Jews traced from the monuments; Comparative vocabulary of Akkado-Assyrian and Egyptian words; Egyptian origins in the Akkado-Assyrian language and mythology; Comparative vocabulary of Maori and Egyptian words; African origins of the Maori; Roots in Africa beyond Egypt.Mr. Massey has collected together all the principal facts known about Egypt, with a view to trace the origin of mankind.Some portions of his theories are undoubtedly correct, especially those which go to prove that the Egyptians are the oldest known historical race, that they are an African people of a peculiar type, and by no means an Asiatic tribe filtered through the Isthmus of Suez.Evidence of their primitive development is to be found in their physical type.The significance of this work was not recognized in its own time over 100 years ago.This book emphasizes the African origins of mankind in Africa.This work could give new pride and awareness in the staggerin

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Judgement of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent overview of crime and punishment in ancient Egypt. Well documented. Probably of more interest to scholars.

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Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa Review

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(More customer reviews)This book, divided in two sections, was compiled during the course of the 1993 exhibition of the same name. It collectively portrays the fruits of knowledge of it. In the first part, the author introduces this fascinating civilization, by explaining its politics, religious beliefs, society, culture and history from the Bronze Age to the Napatan Meroitic Period. The second part contains more than 300 black and white pictures presented at the exhibition. This is a valuable work for those needing to learn more about Nubia.

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This book discusses the evolution of Nubian culture and history through the Bronze Age and the Napatan-Meroitic Period. It was written to coincide with an exhibition at the University Museum at Pennsylvania, and the unrivalled Nubian collection of that museum and of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, provides some striking illustrations. Maps, chronological tables and a clearly-written text make this an excellent introduction to Nubian civilisation, while well-illustrated discussions of Nubian art and architecture will make this catalogue a valuable source for Egyptian scholars.

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Egypt vs. Greece and the American Academy Review

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(More customer reviews)Egypt vs. Greece And The American Academy: The Debate Over The Birth Of Civilization collaboratively edited by Molefi Asante (Professor of African American Studies, Temple University) and Ama Mazama (Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University) is a selection of erudite, informative, challenging, scholarly essays by an eclectic variety of learned authors, each one of whom focuses on different aspects of the rise of human civilization, from how a genetic model compares to ancient African history to observations about Eurosupremacism in academia. A fascinating, involved, iconoclastic compendium, Egypt vs. Greece And The American Academy is very highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, as well as a seminal and ground-breaking addition to academic reference collections for the study of ancient history and the developmental origins of Western Civilization.

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Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire Review

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(More customer reviews)Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire represents the crowning achievement of Ms. Drusilla Dunjee Houston. The work was originally published in Oklahoma City in 1926. It is the first known attempt by a Black woman, and perhaps anyone, to produce a multi-volume work on African history told from an African perspective.
Ms. Houston herself was an educator, journalist and historian. She spent most of her life in Oklahoma and Arizona and succumbed to tuberculosis in Phoenix, Arizona in 1941.
Her work is broad and comprehensive and was quite advanced for its time. Its audience was not confined to scholars but the layperson, particularly Black folk, who were in need of a accurate tonic to boost Black self-esteem. It retains a powerful value even today, more than seventy years since its initial publication.

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Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire, written by legendary author Drusilla Dunjee Houston is widely considered to be one of the greatest classic and historical texts of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Drusilla Dunjee Houston is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library.

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Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985, Volume 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)By all reports Martin Bernal is a respected scholar. Although his professional studies have focused on China, he attacks the problems of ancient Mediterranean history, archaeology, linguistics, and modern European intellectual history with enormous verve, great erudition and amazing breadth. It's therefore fascinating to follow the thread of his argumentation and note at every turn just how wrongheaded it all is. Here is a serious scholar who seems to believe that everything written by Europeans in the 19th and 20th centuries is corrupted by their conscious or unconscious racism, but that Greek myths or the self-aggrandizing monument inscriptions of Egyptian pharaohs are to be taken as literal truth. Yes, racism played a role in the development of 19th- and 20th-century historical thinking, but so did increasing knowledge. It was possible to imagine that Greek philosophy, religion and mathematics sprang from an Egyptian source when the Egyptian language was unreadable, but with a real understanding of Egyptian writings it became clear that the content and aims of Egyptian thought and religion were just not compatible with later Greek culture. Likewise, it was easy to imagine Egyptian military dominance, and perhaps even colonization, of broad swaths of Europe and Asia until decade after decade of careful archaeological excavation failed to reveal any more evidence of Egyptian presence than could be attributed to trade. But just as Bernal claims (not entirely correctly) that conventional scholarship was tainted by racist assumptions, twisting the evidence to favor the position that Greece developed without significant Semitic or African influence, so does Bernal pick and choose his evidence to support the opposite conclusion. The problem is that in Bernal's case there just isn't a whole lot of real evidence he can use, so he's reduced to fabricating the flimsiest of etymological connections or elevating myths into reliable historical documents.
For the record, the Greek lexicon does not contain a large number of Egyptian or Semitic loan words. The fact that Egypt is situated in Africa does not make its inhabitants "black" in the modern sense (e.g., physically similar to the sub-Saharan African population) any more than living in Asia makes Syrians Chinese. There is no archaeological evidence suggesting any multi-year campaign of conquest by any Egyptian pharaoh, much less colonization of the Aegean by Egyptians or post-expulsion Hyksos. And, regardless of what Bernal seems to think, showing that something might conceivably have been so doesn't remotely begin to constitute proof that it was so.
Perhaps the saddest thing about Black Athena is the fuel it gives to the Afrocentrist movement, which seems to subsist on a feeling that people of African descent can only feel good about themselves if their ancestors can be shown to have been the real founders of European culture. In its own unfortunate way, this belief is as Eurocentric as the one Bernal imputes to 19th-century scholars. Why isn't Egyptian civilization, or more to the point that of ancient Nubia or the Mali Empire, important in and of itself? Black Athena offers its readers an attractive mirage, but what will they be left with if (and when) the mirage dissolves?

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The Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten Review

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(More customer reviews)Molefi Asante's Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is a timely redressing of a serious omission in the human history -- the antiquarian contributions of African philosophers to medicine, philosophy, science, and the birth of civilization itself. Beginning with a chronology of Ancient World Philosophers, this scholarly, superbly crafted survey covers Imhotep and the "emergence of reason", Ptahhotep and the "moral order", Merikare on "common sense", as well as the contributions and insights of Akhenaten, Amenemope, and others whose work was ignored, suppressed, or simply unknown to the academia based on Greco-Roman sources and histories. Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, philosophy, and the history of science.

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