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Ancient Egyptian Race Controversy
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Adel Zaki, MD
Editors & Staff
Cardiology Department, Cairo, Egypt
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A variety of views circulated about the racial identity of the Egyptians and
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the source of their culture.[1] The theory being either «Black African» or
Egyptian Research Group ERG
«darkened Caucasian», was dominant in the last century. In 2001 the Oxford
Encyclopedia on Ancient Egypt stated that "Any characterization of race of
the ancient Egyptians depends on modern cultural definitions, not on
scientific
study."[2] It is largely agreed that about 5,000 years ago, people from the
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Near East entered the Nile Valley, bringing with them wheat, barley, sheep,
goats and possibly cattle. While in the southern part of Egypt (Upper Egypt)
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the culture of these people seemed to be more closely related to the
Nubians and North East Africans than with the northern Egyptians. [3]
The geographical location of Egypt was a crossroads of several major
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cultural areas and foreign invasions during historical times, including by the
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the Libyans, the Kushites (Nubians) the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the
Persians, the Macedonian Greeks, the Romans (Byzantium in late
antiquity/early Middle Ages), the Arabs, the Ottoman Turks, the French and
the British. The dilemma of 'black versus white' of the race of the Ancient
Egyptians was not settled, even after finding a painting of Khufu's daughters,
with blonde hair, in the tomb of Meresankh III (figure­1). And the fact that
the great Ramses II's mummy, showed features of an old man with red hair
(figure­2)[4] The UNESCO symposium on the Peopling of Ancient Egypt in
1974, rejected the «Black Egyptian» theory by 90% of delegates and the
symposium concluded that Ancient Egyptians were very much the same as
today's modern Egyptians. [5] In 2008, S. O. Y. Keita wrote that «The basic
overall genetic profile of the modern population is consistent with the
diversity of ancient populations that would have been indigenous to north
eastern Africa and subject to the range of evolutionary influences over time.
[6] The «Table of Nations» is a standard painting which appears in a number
of tombs. It described the «four races of men» as follows: The RETH are
Egyptians, the AAMU are dwellers in the deserts to the east and north­east
of Egypt, the NEHESU are the black http://heartmirror.com.sunflower.arvixe.com//more.aspx?id=34
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races, and the THEMEHU are the fair­skinned Libyans (figure­3). [7]
Are the Copts the proper representatives of the Ancient Egyptians?
In 1839, Champollion states that «The first tribes that inhabited Egypt, came
from Abyssinia. In the Copts of Egypt, we do not find any of the
characteristic features of the Ancient Egyptian population. The Copts are the
result of crossbreeding with all the nations that successfully dominated
Egypt. It is wrong to seek in them the principal features of the old race.»[8]
The skin color mattered less to the Egyptians than it does to us now. Men
were painted with a red skin tone and women were painted white as seen in
the famous statue of the Prince Rahotep and Nofret (figure­4). The photo of
the late president Sadat (figure­5) and his wife Jehan gives the same
impression of this ancient statue. Modern archaeologists used it to describe
the similarity between ancient and modern Egyptian. Corresponding Author
Adel Zaki, MD
Editor­in­Cheif
Email: [email protected]
References
1­ Edith Sanders: The Hamitic hypothesis: its origin and functions in time
perspective, The Journal of African History, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1969), pp. 521–532
2­ Donald Redford (2001) The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, Volume 3.
Oxford University Press. p. 27­28
3­ Zakrzewski, Sonia (2007). «Population continuity or population change:
Formation of the ancient Egyptian state». American Journal of Physical
Anthropology 132 (4): 501–9.
4­ http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/holybook/articles/ race.html
5­ UNESCO, «Symposium on the Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering
of the Meroitic Script; Proceedings, » (Paris: 1978), pp. 3–134
6­ Keita, S.O.Y. (2008). National Geographic. http://ngm.
nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Ancient_Egypt
7­ «Tutankhamun›s CT Scan». http://www.egyptologyonline.
com/ct_scan_report.htm
8­ Champollion­Figeac, Egypte Ancienne. Paris: Collection L›Univers, 1839, p.27
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